It is a brighter blue than the blue before the sun
Awakens with a roar, wet tendrils of lake mist
Curl upward, a brief life's sigh
Before the morning lifts its sheets
To find me hanging on to the weight of sleep
Three blissful minutes more
Before eyes pry open wide open
Ears open wide to the sound of sirens
Now much stronger than yesterday's
Sirens hurrying down the street
Screaming of obligations.
I wear duty like a yoke around my neck
It is the badge I wear, a knotted lace where
Mobile and spectacles hang alongside
The necessary talisman.
Thank goodness for the
Thrum of a well oiled truck
That takes me here and there
The comings and goings
To one thousand certain --
and uncertain destinations.
Thank goodness
For this is how everyday starts
Always with a poem and a song
I call on these to sustain me
Until the quitting hour.
