Buying Time (The Stache, Grand Rapids, MI, 10.30.21)

Count to four and tell me when
I'll move my sleeping giant then
You can live where it is placed
In my rocky mountain base

Eight to six I'm made to run
In winter I don't see the sun
From bed, to car, to parking-lot
I start to speak but hold no thought

Soon I'll free my full restraint
And learn to sing or write or paint
A promise I may not possess
Tomorrow tells me more or less

I drink to rest and calm my quiet
And coffee shapes my morning diet
The day proceeds and then repeats
Until my body's made antique

Break a leg and count to three
I'll follow you, you'll follow me
We'll build our rage and then release
And contemplate our masterpiece

Twenty-Five and almost blind
Sixty-Eight and out of time
Seventeen and full of pride
Thirty-two and dignified