"10 Minutes"

Awake for 10 minutes, though you couldn't tell, to see me. In the dark and still, blanketed, staring up at the blank fog That ceilings become at night, with the lights off, the electric Fan turned on to drown out the background noise with white. I count breaths for a while, but those are poor timekeepers. Am I breathing to the beats or beating to the breathing? I count cracks that I pretend to see, and ghosts, which I Disbelieve. I count my needs, diverse things, though Sloppily. I am awake but still I dream of the first of Spring, those months ago. Maybe it was May, and the blossoms Had gone, and the sun was turning past the warmth into Something much closer to a full noon. Rain was a hint, Though it was still dry, the red leaves not yet wet, But maybe soon to shake and fall, at least it would be Cool for a while. I am awake as I count the blinks. Little Leaps, dark on darker black, the blank flog goes to sleep.

Original Version

I have been awake for ten minutes. I count the breaths I speak under whisper, I count the fogs Upon invisible panes of glass Near cracked and even less that a few feet away. I count the ghosts. I count the toys in my addict. Ten minutes, a lifetime, really... Slide off the end of memory. I dream of first of spring in the midst of May. Leaves fall in complex chaos Rain precipts...like a faint mist Of possibility. I count the blinks between this moment. I count the thats just alike. I have been asleep... 10 minute intervals. One then another.