Waking, but Wondering Where

Waking, but Wondering Where

Awakening to a dark and foreign room

My eyes adjust, scanning the walls

And floor in a desperate search for clues.

The seconds fall

  And fall

  And fall,

And for a second I’m convinced

I’m in my childhood bed, the ticking

Clock the racecar clock I’ve had since

The day I turned six.

          I hear its ticking,

Ticking, ticking, with every tick

The fogginess fading from my mind

As I begin to wake.

        I kick

The covers and scan about to find

Old Bristly Bear, who used to lay

Beside my pillow to guard my head,

Or G.I. Joe, waiting to play

At war when morning finally dawned.

Instead, my eyes find foreign shapes:

A desk fan, a little shelf of books,

Half of a bag of unwashed grapes

I ate the night before.

                                    I look

While listening to the tick-tick-tock,

And then the walls begin to morph

As I wake and grasp my bearings.

                         The clock

Beside my bed reads 3:04

And I am an adult again,

Lying in an adult’s queen bed,

Wishing that I could sleep to then

Re-awake and wonder where I was.