Another Planet

Throw the light on in the john
to make sure you didn’t leave
the window cracked

(a last flash check
in the pre-dawn dark)

then a sip of juice
and you’re off—

to work again
(with those with souls

like wind
through a crack in a door—

like yours).
And you’re wide awake
on a weary ride

while the sun lifts
its slow glow
over slumbering Earth.

A crushed candy cane
on the floor of the train
heralds a holiday.

Bare trees on the lawns
look paused.

Last weekend you hiked lands
almost unmuddled by man—
like another planet.

The feeling faded.
Work waits.

But for a while
you had only
big rocks in your brain.


.