Before Daybreak II                             Free Verse (Creative Writing MA: 2012)

In that quiet moment before daybreak,
When Confidence lies sleeping,
You wake weeping,
And Truth stands before you, naked,
Without pills,
Without audience,
Without any reason to not be believed.
Truth undeniable,
Reliable.

And Truth asks: Why did you not do that,
That thing you were going to do?
And those things that you were never going to do?
Why did you do them?
Other people’s things,
Wedding rings, lies, ties,
Pathetic alibis,
Nativity plays,
Duvet days.

Then, to make matters worse, Fate happens by,
And says: I remember you
When you were in with a chance,
Quite a big chance, I’d say,
Yet you flitted it all away.
Were you under the impression
That time is negotiable?
Or were you just pretending,
It was never ending?

Did it not occur to you that this is no practice,
That this day, is the only day?
Anyway, says Fate, too late now.
But you realise that, don’t you?
So, Truth, old chum, what’s our advice?
And Truth says:
Start on your next chapter,
Bury yourself in those imaginary lives
And pray that morning
Comes soon.

© Jean Levy/2012