Tony Brown
Awake
At this hour
most people I know
are not awake.
Sometimes I think I could say this
at any hour of the day
and still be correct. I know
there are plenty of times
when I am asleep
yet still walking and talking;
staying alert, really,
is not the easiest way
to get through this life.
We stumble and fog
our way across
the wide parking lots
of our days,
hoping to pick up something
that'll make us feel better
once we get to the mall
or the office. Heads down,
eyes bent to our plodding,
we just -- proceed. Here's
the next step, the next, the next...
if someone's walking beside us,
they are doing the same. It's hard
to stay awake. It doesn't pay
to know what we're doing --
we'd scream more often
if we did. At this hour,
any hour at all really,
that would have Consequences.
Others might wake and see us.
We might see them
and then have to decide
what to do about them, and then
we might all turn around,
head back to our cars,
perhaps share rides
back home without the purchases
and paychecks we'd considered
invaluable not five minutes ago.
Everything would require
a second look. We might
have to talk. We might
not even be able to go back to sleep.
Tweet Pin It
