Coming To

Connie Bensley

 

The seconds between waking

and opening your eyes

may be revelatory.

 

The adventurous traveller

tries to remember

where he is. The philanderer

 

extends a cautious investigating

foot. Is he alone?

Either answer has its pleasures.

 

The hungover poet wants

to hold on to the knock-out phrase

that just occurred to him. No chance.

 

The patient feels his pain but decides,

in his morphine-muddled way,

to try surviving for another day.