Sounds of the early morning are
so different than sounds during
other times in the day

Midnight’s silence is broken at
dawn by song birds and, inside,
the sounds of silverware drawers and
cabinet doors opening and closing
with care, as to not wake sleeping kin
It’s all so…deliberate.

The hushed voices of considerate early risers
softy interrupt the sleeping ones muddled dreams
They speak to each other and their vocal cords are
harshened and coarse from their own recent restful sleep

Then eight a.m. comes around with its
black hole sun and screaming-loud morning traffic
and, like a freight train’s horn, drowns the sound of
people’s calm tip-toeing

Mothers who had stolen just a moment,
or, no, taken what was already theirs,
look again and force pretty grins at
their swollen husbands and gurgling babes