Still Dark

I wake and glance outside
And see the sky is inky dark.
The buildings that my windows frame
Look menacing and stark.

Yet gradually some lights wink on,
A signal – we’re awake;
And slowly, others join them
And my view’s not so opaque.

I cannot see the people,
Just their beacons in the gloom.
I guess they’re girding for the day,
Not knowing what will loom.

But as I sit and write these words,
The sky tiptoes towards light.
My pre-dawn companeros
Cannot claim the copyright.

But if my fellow early birds
Did glimpse their daybreak view,
I bet they’d think they owned the dawn,
Exactly like I do.