Nonstop

Because this morning I woke up

to see a lurking night sky,

covered with a cloak of grey---

 

and because I watched the light rise

like a phoenix---

knocked down every night,

only to rise again,

rising, rising, rising

as night shrunk for temporary inexistence---

and because the air was calm and cool

and morning dew littered the grass,

I sat out on our low, weathered picnic table

with a ladybug strolling across my palm,

staring into the unmoving woods

as the twisted knots stared back

and the trees stood straight and silent like obedient soldiers,

everything still except the tall, unruly weeds

that danced as they were swept up

until the wind came to a halt and

everything slowed,

stopped---

the world stopped.