Daylight Savings
You say: let’s fall back
into timelessness
see 2 am twice.
But I have so much to do
before the hour is up:
finish my report, colour-code the closet,
regrout the tub, read that book.
With wide eyes
and a goading grin
you ask: but what if
this hour is a silver locket
holding every
shiny wish?
Let’s shut down the club
you and me
and all of humanity
sweating gratitude
onto beer-drenched floors.
Let’s swallow a drug,
make the universe vaster
climb over your neighbour’s fence
pull off sweaters
somersault underwater.
I close my eyes, think:
any wish?
I’d meet my mom on a park bench
sit hip to hip
show her all the Girl Guide badges
she didn’t get to see.
I’d gather together
strangers and intimates,
offer fragrant garlands,
blossoming apologies
for when I was clumsy,
petty and mean.
I’d use every expansive second
to learn kindness,
for in spring
we’ll lose time
rushing, rushing forward.
Farzana Doctor