An Open Letter To 5 AM

An open letter to 5 am
Dear you
You are the hour of early commuters and hungry college students
The hour of sleepy sex and
Am I still…. Drunk?
People rarely roll over and smile into the stars in your eyes
You are more regularly met with raspy groans and a marathon of snooze buttons
Dear you
You are the hour of book worms
And the last 100 pages of a six book series
You hold the lonely people of the world against your chest and offer as much comfort as you
can
Brush tears from cheeks with whispers of a few more minutes of sleep
Dear you
You are nervous
Wrapped around the comfort of the night like a child clinging to a mother’s leg
You are restless
Arms outstretched eyes wide
Fumbling in the dark
Tripping over dreams that rolled out of heads some time around three
You are sweaty palms
Swiped briskly across tangled sheets
And gasping into consciousness
Dear you
You are the hour of sitting cross crossed on the couch and rolling eyes at the news
You smell like coffee and exhaust pipes
You are full of angry crimson tail lights and bleary eyed confusion
Dear you
Thank you
For being the hour that I most easily remember the way my grandfather used to greet you
noisily
For keeping him tucked gently between his palms
And allowing me to cry for all the times he will never wake me for you
You are the hour of bittersweet memories
Of salt trails on cheeks
Of rough hands
And callused feet
The hour of sitting on window seats and wishing on stars
And hoping to God that today does not break us
You are the hour of quiet contemplation
And questioning of judgment
Of emotional breakdowns and putting ourselves back together again
Dear you
Thank you
Sincerely
Me

I wrote this poem after I lost people that I thought I couldn’t live without, and I had to learn how to rebuild myself without them. It was early in the morning and I was angry. Angry that I was awake and angry that I felt as weak as I did. I wrote it to remind myself to focus on the moment, to take things one step at a time and that every day has the potential to better than yesterday.

“Like”, “Share”, and comment on this poem to nominate it for the Annual Swimming with Elephants Publications 2020 Anthology.

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