I Shuffle My Feet Forward

Like a slow-moving train leaving the station

My eyes underlined in grey heavy and puffy

You would swear they are storm clouds in the sky

As my mind starts to function

I can feel my lifeless body struggling to cooperate

Each day begins when I feel yesterday just finished

Familiar objects come into focus

Slowly as I walk and reach for the ceiling that is resting above my head

It looks so relaxed and still

Not long ago I was enjoying all those feelings

Wanting and needing the sleep that brings so much comfort and joy

Forced by time

Pressured by society

Riding the never-ending wheel that turns

Food piled into my bowl

Not much different than dog food in a dish

Slowly the milk soaks into the bran flakes

I have mastered how to stretch a smile

My toes and feet now get tingling sensations

New life-like plants that have survived the harsh winter

Amazing thoughts not possible minutes ago

Begin to arrive and leave quickly

Reminding me of little sparrows landing on the ground

Dispersing quickly with the slightest sound

I plug in my cell phone

It also was almost fully drained

With only 12% power

The quietness and peaceful silence

Soothes my stiff and sore body

A quick sniffle disturbing and breaking code

Scratching an itch on the top of my head

Creates new sounds

No different than my cat in the cat box

Her paws lifting up and down

I continue to add my thoughts together

Once like an old adding machine punching in the numbers

The results look promising

The bed that I left

Where my wife laid back down for a quick rest

After she got our lunches together and wrote out bills that are now due

We balance each other out

I slide my hands in hot soapy water

Cleaning the little left over food that remained

Each dish now dipped and clean

Sparkling on the dish strainer

It also was once not a pretty sight

Only after the sun came shining through

Did it sparkle in the light

As I drop the comfortable clothes of the night

Now see my naked body

It stands open and exposed

Only to cover it again

With heavier and warmer shirt and pants

My day has it's stuggles

As we compromise

Taking only a few hours from the magic number of eight

So that we can do all that we have to do

One day we will be able to sleep as long as we want

Propping up our pillows under our head

Instead of tossing them forward and fixing the sheet neatly

We will continue to hug and snuggle

Long after the early morning traffic

Only to get up later and start our wonderful day