Time
is my enemy
or at least that's how
anxiety makes it seem.

9 pm
Getting ready for bed,
pulling the long sheets
from their tuck beneath my pillows
and folding so I can step into their embrace

Then checking
that my alarm is set,
the same alarm I've had set for years
since high school
the same one I've checked
every single night
for decades

Yet still
my brain runs wild
because though start at nine
I need to wake up at 4:45
so I won't be late.
I set an alarm for 4:30 am
and 4:25, 4:20, 4:15...