Four A.M.

Alone in the bathroom at 4 a.m.
I sit with the toilet seat down.
Try to think of nothing,
then something
benign. Try to dry the tears
from their source
by wishing, praying,
sop up the ones outside.
Cover my mouth
so sobs won't explode into
quiet house  sounds;
ticking clock,
guest's cough
husband snores
serenade my madness.
I can get up in another hour
off the toilet, out the door.
to begin the daytime noises;
clacking at the computer keys,
coffee brewing, teeth brushing,
rushing to start the day.


*Take a line from another poet's work and write a new poem using that line.

From Mary Rosenthal Mansfield's "Three Minute Wait." (Alone in the bathroom at 4 a.m.)