I couldn’t sleep, so I got out of bed
about 4 o’clock one morning.
Thinking to snack and then to write,
I turned on an overhead light.
Outside, my rooster saw the brightness
shining through the chicken house windows and
tried to awaken all the sleepyheads around him.

He called long farewells into the black of night
and crowed his welcome to an absentee sun.
The calling seemed to be on autopilot,
with each offering connected to the last one
for the rest of the wearisome night,
even after I went back to bed
and quietly turned off every light.  

Note to self:
Put room-darkening shades in the chicken house
for the sake of my ten hens and me.