Morning Comes Gently
Sleep moves with visions of events to come
and with stories and poems I've yet to write -
with gardens I dream to plant and songs
that never sang themselves before
Sometimes I meet myself in different incarnations
child, youth, young mother, wizened crone
Then morning comes gently
in soft refrains
"Rise and Shine"
The freshness of daybreak peeks in through blinds
Breezes stroke the shears with familiar affection
Ears spark to the rhythm of the rain on the roof or
the prattle of birds in trees and on telephone wires
I hear the bell at St. Joe's ... I wonder ~
then realize I'm no longer a schoolgirl
From someplace in time comes the baby's murmur,
but that gift is grown and gone now
I reach for the man and with relief remember
he's another woman's Sisyphean task
The cat, I move to pull her...