by Shannon Herrick
Ode to a Morning
I wake in a pool of sweat
and I know this morning will be different
I know because I don't want to clamp my eyes shut
when I perceive the hazy early light spreading
opening
I know because I rise and my head isn't swimming
floating
I know because I stand in the shower for a long time
and the water doesn't feel like tiny needles
driving into my skin
raw
I don't have to wipe the slate clean
It has been done for me
It has come upon me like any other morning, I know
It is always a clean slate, I know
But I feel so different
and the tea transformed itself to broken glass as it slid down my throat
I wake, washed upon a different shore
and the waves lap against my feet
tickling my mind and body into wakefulness
renewed
restored
It doesn't always feel like this
but the opportunity is there
Every morning we find ourselves on a strange new shore
A fresh wave of invincibility in the wake of illness
A fresh wave of pain in the wake of tragedy
A fresh wave of exhilaration in the wake of passion
A fresh wave of anxiety in the wake of hitting "send"
Or it can just be fresh
Every time
Maybe tomorrow I will just let it wash over me
but today I will ride the wave.
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