This poem, written in 2025, was inspired by how my husband can literally go from a dead sleep to talking on the phone like he’s been awake for hours. I couldn’t do that even if you paid me handsomely…
The Awakening
by Nikki Starcat Shields
Some people wake
From a dead sleep,
Coherent enough
To answer the phone -
The phone!
Oh hells no -
To sound like they
Were already awake.
So annoying.
Others - that’s me -
Emerge reluctantly
From dreams,
Squinting against
The sun’s bright,
Burning rays,
The urgency to pee
The final push
To return.
Stumbling back
To the pillow,
No words yet,
No thoughts,
Just fleeting images
Of where I was before.
The lingering feeling
Of the dream
Like a whiff of salt air,
Or a constriction
In my heart,
Fading as my
New day breaks.
Easing in,
Slowly,
Resisting.
Gazing out the window
At the trees moving
In the wind.
What am I doing here?
And now?
With who?
I yawn,
And stretch,
And oh so gradually,
Slowly,
Clothe myself
In personality
And purpose
And motion.
Maybe this is how
The great awakening
Of human consciousness
Proceeds,
A new day
Rippling through the
Multiverse.
Some people
Answering the call,
Consciousness
Springing to attention,
While some of us,
Slowly,
Hesitantly,
Convince ourselves
That it’s a good idea
To bother
To get out of bed.
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