twenty more

Just twenty seconds awake  
before the tale of my life 
took off again - 

what to worry about, 
quest for enlightenment, 
flourishing, 
who I am and 
so forth.

Fk off I pled,
sitting on the bed's edge 
and by grace came another twenty.  

Simply the sound 
of early walkers,  
voices lifting over pigeon murmur.

Felt my feet on the lightless floor,
the gleaming tap,  
water cold across 
my eyelids. 

Last Thursday 
there were moments 
with nothing yet to be. 

Mary Ellen Ortiz