By Eily Hite
Featured in Caesura 2020: Imago
morning person
deep in the early morning
before the day has decided
that it will be a sunday
i am in my bed
one window away from my sisters
tucked under quilts of family trees
watching and waiting for the sun
to kiss me through the thin curtains
with its gold light
if i hold my breath
i can hear the musicians rehearsing
in the old brick church adjacent to my room
soon a lazy car passing below my window
will cover the music
i will hold this morning deep in my mind the next time someone asks me if i’m a morning person
Bonus piece
Der Ausgleich
There are roughly fifteen different German words for ‘balance.’
Some are a more direct translation to measurement, while some relate to a physical position of balance. ‘Ausgleich,’ one of the many words, translates to balance, compensate, and settlement.
A life of ‘der ausgleich.’
Compensation. Balancing this life is compensating for what you don’t know.
To balance is to settle. To settle.
Ausgleich can be used to describe a compromise. It derives from the verb ‘gleichen’ which means ‘to be similar.’
To move the body into a state of receiving one must destroy the scale. Perhaps a body of balance is one often reminded of the similarities in those opposite.
Settling into the posture of balance. Settling into the similarities of humankind; ausgleich.
Eily Hite is a senior theatre major at IWU. She enjoys coffee, scary movies, and reading! After school, Eily will be heading to the East Coast to audition.