Dropping Down Into April

A poem for when units of time don't wait for us

“April as an Hourglass” - illustration by the author, Morgan Harper Nichols, 2023

Perhaps April is an hourglass
into which you descend;
via the
ever-shaky
ladder
of March,
which was so rushed
to release you
down
onto April’s edge,
but only for a short time
before you must leap in,
(because March decided for you
when it was time to descend).

You exhale,
and you tell

yourself:

I will find
my way
to the ground.