Today, We All Woke Up?

A poem.

Did you know
            that  
            today, we all woke up? 

We all wrestled soundlessly with the 
            space 
between somewhere else  
            and the uncompromising pace 
and hardness of here. 

Every night,
             as our internal, sacred hard drives defragmented our day,  
             we lay,  
             as defenceless as an infant. 
We were again a babe,  
            absorbed by another realm – a memory, a star, a tree – 
            and we had to come back. 

Like rising from a suboceanic adventure 
clawing our way to the top,  
            faster and faster,  
                        the very palm of the universe seemingly pushing us         
                        heavenward as we surfaced for air 
          and dared to remember what was real. 

What was more real, I should say.



Did you know
            we all had 
                        a first thought? 

We all tried to clutch at something
as we sped through the fug of our subconscious wanderings, 
as we arrived to find the new day waiting for us
as if it had been there all along
because it had.     

There had to be one that beat the rest.
Our blameless, oft-unwanted guest. 

Revulsion
Fury
Calm
Isolation

Courage
Hope
Jealousy
Resignation

This one has a special place,
            precisely because we didn’t choose it. 
We can simply feel 
            its texture, 
            its key, 
            its pace  

that thought that moved through us so viscerally,
            its impact was like a pinch of salt in water. 
no going back. 

It has a habit of leaving its mark on whatever comes next. 



At one point in time today, 
            after this thought was thought, 
                        we squeezed and blinked, 
            and light met our pupils, again, for the first time. 

Muscles reabsorbed their familiar tension
            marrow and sinew settled in 
                        bones whispered their aching obedience
and before we decided, today had started.  

Also without deciding, we became
            a thinker 
            a chooser 
            a mover 
            a doer 
                        no cracks to show 
                        no thoughts to spare 
every one was important. 

Today had arrived and whether out of acceptance or fear, 
it called us forth.
The tendrils of sleep lay wasting away,  
            drained out of our pores 
            to be replaced with important thoughts. 

Thoughts to carry us through a proper day with proper people.



But did you know?
            My darling, can you remember? 
                        Just listen – before you go –  
                                    Today, we all woke up?