EARLY BIRDS

 

EARLY BIRDS

7:30 AM dawns with a weary sigh,
Each tick of the clock a heavy weight on my chest,
Dragging through these wee hours like a reluctant ghost.
Oh well, they whisper—the early bird catches the worm,
But what if the worm is just another regret,
Wriggling away in the damp soil of yesterday? Circles etch themselves deep beneath my eyes,
Dark badges of honor from nights spent in vigil,
Awake when the world slumbers in peaceful surrender.
I've wandered through shadows where sleep dares not tread,
Chasing echoes of laughter that fade with the stars,
Insomnia's cruel gift, a map of my unrest. Too mentally tangled to drift into dreams,
My mind a whirlwind of thoughts that refuse to lie still,
Preoccupied with the vinyl spin of Fleetwood Mac,
Their melodies weaving through the quiet like smoke.
Stevie Nicks' voice croons of thunder and chains,
Stirring the embers of what we once shared. Visions of your lips linger, soft and unbidden,
Perched on the edge of memory's fragile shelf,
A touch I can almost feel in the cool morning air.
The curve of your smile, the warmth of your breath,
They haunt the spaces between heartbeats and sighs,
Refusing to fade, like a song stuck on repeat. I search for the moment when I'll turn the page,
When your shadow will shrink in the light of new days,
But the answer eludes me, hidden in fog.
Will it be tomorrow, or years from this dawn?
I cannot fathom letting you slip from my grasp,
Not yet, not while the ache feels so alive. This isn't weakness, no fragile confession of defeat,
Merely the raw truth stripped bare in the light—
Honest as the sunrise painting the sky in gold.
I miss you sometimes, in these quiet invasions,
When the world is asleep and my heart stands awake,
Whispering your name to the empty room. And so I rise, brew coffee strong as resolve,
Facing the day with eyes heavy but open,
Knowing that missing is part of the human weave—
Threads of love lost, but never fully unraveled.
Perhaps one morning, the circles will fade,
And I'll greet the worm with a smile of my own.