Do you know that moment when upon first waking
you think your life has changed?
Sunlight dapples the wall of your bedroom
like the star from the East.
(more)
Hope rises treacherously. You listen
for the stirring of your cells.
Yes, you are feeling better. Now you're sure of it.
As long as you don't move, you'll be all right.
Don't move, you tell yourself. Not one muscle.
That's the trick. Be sarcophagus.
You wait. Holding your skin to its bones in the silence. Please, you think. A simple inchoate please.
No. You are not to be relieved.
This moment will limp itself into the next.
Finally, you turn on the light.
You have chores: an anvil to push off your chest. (less)
