TOMORROW

If I didn't have to go to work tomorrow.

I would stay up all night and sit and look at the stars. Sit in the cool of the night. Feel the breeze, hear the crickets, listen for the cows.

I would watch the clouds rush darkly across the night sky. Not even think about where they might be going to. Not even think about the insects that gather on my skin to bite and suck. Just sit and sit and be and be.

I would feel the tired of the night settle over me as the darkness had done just hours earlier. Just sit. Not even think. Just sit. Until the seat gets hard and my bum gets sore. I wouldn't move. Just sit and let my bum get sore.

If I didn't have to go to work tomorrow.

I would stay up all night and be there when the farmer brings his cows in for milking. Be there when the chickens come alive, ready for their day. Be there as slowly one by one the night things disappear and the day things start to emerge.

I would feel my body become cold and damp and sore. Feel my eyes sting from tiredness. Feel my mind go fuzzy and dull. Feel my tongue turn furry, my voice croaky and my skin clammy. My hair would stick straight up from the thousands of times I ran my fingers through it in an effort to stay awake.

If I didn't have to go to work tomorrow.

I would stay up all night and watch the sun slowly brighten the sky in the east. Watch the sky turn all colours. Purple, pink, red, orange, yellow, white, blue.

I would watch the stars disappear out of the sky. Track the moon on its way from here to there. Follow the night parade of the celestial bodies as they pass.

And finally, when the sun has done everything it has to do to get the morning going, I will leave my place and go to bed, to sleep. As the day begins, I would go to sleep.

If I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow.