Before the World Begins.

Clenched hands dive deep inside sleeves,
and sleep clogged eyes try to shut.
Blinding darkness, intermittent traffic,
muffled yawns and chattering teeth.

In the car, we huddle together,
silent, all wishing it was the end of the day.
The air conditioning is too hot
and I begin to fall back into a dream,
moving, like everyone else,
with the sway of the wheels.
But out of the window,
the light changes
and falls on my face,
opening my eyes.

A yellow glow spreads across the land.
Flat and dewy fields begin to sparkle,
as birds rush upwards in their swarms,
dipping and diving and awake.
Suddenly, the sky is frozen
in the aftermath of an explosion,
a shooting fire
that makes the tips of the clouds blush.

While everyone else has fallen back asleep,
and the driver focuses on the road,
I wait for every change the landscape has to offer,
and watch this new, naked burst of life.