Playing Games Against the Alarm Clock
By Gordon Mei
March 13, 2004, age 18

A tiny bit of light is all it takes
To spark my consciousness
The second my eyelids lift a sliver.

I have awaken
Five minutes before the hour,
Five minutes before six A.M.,
Five minutes before my alarm clock rings.

I have awaken
On my own.
Not because I am fully rested.
The heavy fatigue in my body
Remains.

My tired mind contemplates:
Alarm off and sleep.
Alarm on and half-sleep.

Alarm off, too risky.
Alarm's rude awakening comes,
Down the snooze button goes.
Five minutes.

Five minutes until the next ring.
Five minutes until my second warning.
I know I should rise from bed,
But my tired body succumbs
To the warmth under the covers
Tempting another five, ten, twelve minutes.

The ring pierces my ears once again
And down the snooze button goes again.
This is why I give myself a full hour to awake.

As the third ring begins,
I nearly unconsciously hit the snooze button.
The off button, smaller and hidden, tempts me.

I no longer hear the fourth ring
Or the fifth.
Somewhere between the fifth and eighth ring
I have somehow finally reached the off buton.

My heavy eyelids open and see :45. Fifteen minutes
Before the hour.
Before class.
Before work,
Before a long, long day.

My eyelids close.
Just five more minutes,
I can get ready in ten minutes.

My eyelids open. :50. Ten minutes
Before the hour.
Before deadlines, pressure, stress.
I can prepare in 5 minutes,
Or perhaps I can be 5 minutes late.

No.
Enough.
Enough of these alarm clock games.
This ends now
And I must force myself to do exactly what I need to do.

So
I set my alarm for noon.
And slept.