Dawn
Upon waking, January 26 2009

Finding a way to wake
isn’t always simple
when reasons to sleep
have all but fled
a bitten nail,
ragged edge and damaged bed
is a mind kept company
constantly
thoughts, then
are fog on a cold window
they become dew &
disappear

Perhaps the old knows
their weakness is a gift,
not curse–
one more misconception
that too-young grown ones make.
Wrinkles and jowls,
sags of skin and broken teeth
are not the signals of an ending
but a promise
that sleep might be everlasting
that there is a chance still
of some back door
we may yet
slip through