The moon said Get Up!
And while the cat
and cardinal
insisted I had some purpose
for the day,
I was not convinced.
I AM not convinced.
This slow and useless
plodding on floorboards
that hold now nearly
30 years of footsteps
seems circuitous.
I can, of course,
enumerate —
if you were to ask —
point out the notches
and plaques,
consider the possible
one heart, one life, one pain
but those are slow to come
at 4 when the soft known comfort
of sheets and dreams
seems the best I can hope for
these days, when even footsteps
have become formidable.
Poem ©2026 Jen Payne. NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Writing Month. If you like this poem, you’ll love my book SLEEPING WITH GHOSTS, on sale now at my Etsy Shop.
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