Please.

Just five minutes more.

Just five more minutes alone, in the quiet

Before I walk through that door

Return to the noise

And heed the voices.

 

Just five more minutes

Before I resume my duties

The chores that are never done

The battles that will never be won.

 

Just five minutes more to call my own

Before I become once more the exclusive property of chance

The victim of now, a plaything of circumstance

 

Please.

Just five minutes more

In my head

Five minutes more

Lying on this bed

Five more minutes

Staring at this wall

Trying to recollect my thoughts that roam fore and aft

Scattered through the future, the subjunctive and the past

Just five more minutes

Before I drag myself into the present

And make myself present, and presentable, and correct

Functional and smiling and without regret

For those who expect me to perform

For those who always want more of me

Those who cannot see

 Or do not respect

My need for solitude.

 

**********************

Please.

Just five minutes more.

Just five more minutes to be with my loved ones

Those I mistakenly shunned, craving my own space

Not realizing that my race was nearly run

My time almost done.

 

Just five more minutes

To be there for them

And cherish their voices

Just five more minutes

Of future

Before it meets the past

Just five more minutes

To try to put things right at last

Too little to late

Too many moments wasted on futile wishes

If only I had known

I’m not ready to be alone forever more

Please

Just five minutes more

Before

Eternal

Solitude.