Your voice is thick with sleep,
And your mouth tastes like starvation,
As if in those seven hours of rest,
Your body has forgotten
How it is filled with
Breaths, and water, and laughter.

You’ll join the world as milk
Added to coffee, moving slowly,
Gradually, in blurred cloud shapes,
Subtly colouring the taste of the day
With your inevitable influence.

The movement will come back into your bones,
Slow, at first, like swimming through treacle,
Unhinging the night from your muscles,
Banishing it away.

It will be beautiful when all you can see
Are the lights, sodium yellow, neon green,
All the shades in between. But in the morning,
The picture is full: darkening concrete,
Fading paintwork, withering blackberries
That were never meant to be picked.

For now, open your eyes.
Feel the low, dawn sun on your skin,
Edging through the curtains.
Blurry at first,
And then clearer, as your eyes adjust to the light.
Awaken, and breathe in the morning.
It’s yours. Take it.

10/11/2016

Author's Note: This was Katy's first poetical collaboration. She is not on Pathetic, alas.

Posted on 11/13/2016
Copyright © 2025 Richard Vince