reprieve

today i gave myself time
for two cups of coffee
an hour of reading
lunch on a hot deck
and a bike ride followed by
brownies
followed by
napping.

sometimes it's just impossible
to save the world
or measure your hours with achievement
or comfort anyone with your words.

you need the gentle, uncalendared reprieve
of a whole day off,
contemplating nothing,
not even what kind of work
needed your brief but immediate
divorce.

aloft on your coffee
immersed in literature
not of your own making
and afterwards, soaring through town
on your shiny red bike,
you are alone and long as daylight.

which is what makes it possible, later,
when you have filled yourself
with such clear oxygen
to reach your arms out
in honest invitation
and hold the world close again.