It was Groundhog Day recently and so I was thinking about Groundhog Day the movie because I love Groundhog Day the movie. It's clever and funny and it's about all sorts of subtle and beautiful things and it's got great performances and oh, I like Groundhog Day.
I was inspired to write a poem about the day after Groundhog Day. Which is not, but should be, referred to as 'Groundhog Boxing Day'.
Anyway. Here's the poem. Please don't read anything into it about my current state of mind. I'm fine.
The Day After Groundhog Day
We flirted with romance for a period of days
That didn’t seem to pass in the regular way
More like one day, repeated, like that film with Bill Murray
Where the passage of time was in no particular hurry
Where I didn’t much care and I didn’t much worry
About the jokes that I made and the things that might follow
I just bought you a beer and we enjoyed the blizzard
That would come every day to wipe out tomorrow
You were, I suppose, a safe hiding place
Slowly going through motions
Knowing dawn would erase
My cheap fumblings at romance
Knowing nothing of meaning would really accrue
Knowing no consequence to the reckless and cavalier things I would do
Freedom to play
With your feelings, your time
With that one endless day
When no hint of a crime
would land at my restless feet
‘Cause my footprints were gone
And fresh snow, like before, would cover the wandering tracks on these streets
But one morning we woke and the flirting was done
And the music was different and all the snow gone
The linear nature of time was restored
I was free. I had won
We embraced
I was instantly bored
They say the chemicals that dance in your brain will reward
Not the moment you finally grasp your desire
But the moment that sparks just a fraction before
We’re drawn to the flame, but not to the fire
And the day after Groundhog Day comes without warning
Are we happy or sad that we made our way through
The infinite tangle of days
To this morning? Where finally things will progress,
Where the folding of time won’t clear up our mess
And we can either rejoice that we found our way home
Or look back, with longing,
To those infinite days in the snow
