Thursday showed up
         the missing hit… *hard*
         sometime after midnight.

Ava and I had a blast,
    but that quiet after?
        that's where you live.

Today is work-full—
      head down ‘til six
    (later if I push it),

    letting tasks hold the seconds
    so they don’t hold me.

I’m saving my timeouts,
    pocketing the little pauses—
                         coffee,
                        stretch,
       stray glance at my phone—

    anything to keep the clock from staring back.

Tonight, Thursday Night Football
         can babysit the minutes.

I’ll let the broadcast hum
     while Texas cools outside
     and Atlanta warms my thoughts.

Two cities,
    one thread,
        that familiar chorus
             I can’t unhear.

Call it discipline,
      call it hope—

I’m just running the plays
    that get me through today,
          counting down clean,
           managing the clock…

    until I’m back where time forgets to move.