Daylight Savings

********

The hours stretch slowly forward

as the clocks wind in reverse.

With unexpected swiftness

the change knocks me back,

stealing the wind from my chest.

*

Brought back in an instant—

I’m eight again,

In circles I skate,

faster and faster I fly, until finally—

I’m free.

*

Then the room spins on its side,

and I’m on my back,

struggling to breathe, fighting for air.

For my life,

I beg.

*

It’s a day I long for each year,

the day the impossible happens,

and we’re each granted extra time.

Time the sun gives us as it smiles upon us,

radiating its warmth, giving us a glimpse of hope.

*

But do we gain,

or do we first lose?

*

An hour has gone missing,

sixty minutes, and yet,

somehow, it’s a lifetime.

*

I find I increasingly feel

the impact of this change.

My body, my mind—

they reel, swim in the abyss.

*

Too many revolutions

have robbed me of my stability,

left me crying for the darkness,

for the hours of a thousand yesterdays.

Of hours lost but daylight gained.

*

An hour is just a word,

a construct of civilization—

made up, crafted by minds unknown to me.

The tangible is in the light,

in the acquisition of time.

*

But we first lose before we gain.

An hour, sixty minutes of loss,

of exhaustion unlike any other.

One hour that steals every last ounce

of energy the cold had not yet sapped.

*

But then, like a dandelion emerges

from the hardened snow,

its yellow and green shining like a beacon

amidst the fields of white—

the sun holds onto the sky.

*

With joyful ferocity, it refuses to fall,

Stretching itself, shining upon us.

*

Suddenly, the shadows recede.

The fog lifts,

unveiling the secrets of winter,

of hope prolonged.

*

One hour. Sixty minutes.

Lost for a moment.

Gained for eternity.

*******