Still Here

I wake up still tired.

Coffee helps.
Sunrise too.

It bleeds through the blinds like it's been shot.

Birds are loud about it.
I open the blinds anyway.
Let the light in.

It hurts a little.
I do it because I can.
Because I'm here.

One more day finds me with cold feet on the floor.
They remember how to stand.

I stand.

The city outside is already moving.
Already indifferent.
Already asking nothing of me.

I join it.
Slowly.
Like someone who has earned the right to be slow.

--Vera