Fall From

My new reality began when
my brain hit the pavement, at least
I think it did.

In my new reality
I was concussed.
In that reality,
I sat on a couch and looked
out a window counting the leaves
as they fell from the autumn trees
until
it was OK to talk to people and then
OK to listen to music and then
OK to send an email, or two.

Every day a little more was OK.
One day it was OK to drive,
to go to work again
and that was when
I noted my other reality.

In my other reality
the pavement was my demise.
I never got to say goodbye.
I watched my family,
my colleagues, my friends
in that other reality.
And the leaves kept falling

Homepage thumbnail photo by Oliver Hihn, Unsplash