The moments after

In those moments
on warm cotton thread sheets
that yield heat into my skin
cozy-ing my slumbered body
when I rouse, not from the pre-set
tune of yesterday or the days before
that sings out from my bedside phone
that disturbs my solitude
the time when daylight says wake up

in those moments, as blinking eyes
flicker, with tears that sting a little
I feel my heart rate quicken
my senses start to stir
the day telling me to begin
listening to my breath for the first time
that day, unlike when I was closed off
in my sleep, when I didn’t hear
the sounds of birds waking in the branches
or the cars out on the highway
or the sheets swish as I moved

in those moments when I spread my hand
across the mattress that we share
to you, who lays next to me
to you, whose sleep is restless
I pause just for a second or maybe two
everything is not real, but it is
as is this morning
the Saturday has fallen once again
I remember the previous
the events, the loss

in those moments as we drive out
in our ‘getting along with life’
when the clock on the dashboard
clicks to 9:30am
I reach and hold your hand
with seven days that have passed
today is as real as last week was
tears well in our eyes
and the clock, as life, continues
9:31am