These days it is blackbirds, warblers and wrens
who wake me – not the abrupt buzz of my phone
vibrating on the bedside locker, the bass-heavy beat
of the original alarm jingle, I’ve been promising
to change since I bought it. My bedroom is dazzling,
the outside sneaking, stretching its thin keystone
through the slit in the gap of the curtain pleat
and I don’t need my mobile’s torchlight function
to find my slippers. These days I can address
new beginnings, slower now – a fresh catalogue
of routines: a deeper stretch, walk the road slowly,
deeper breaths, take in hedgerows, scutch grass,
an extra minute in the shower, sip – don’t gulp coffee.
My eye might glance at a book, resting downward dog.
…………..
Simon Lewis’ second collection, Ah, Men!, was published by Doire Press in 2019. Check out his website.