IS THAT THE DAWN CHORUS?
A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
Chinese Proverb.
There is a delicious state between sleep and wakefulness where you have nothing except a faint sense of sadness or wellbeing. The tendrils of reality slowly weave their way around your unconscious mind and you begin to notice. Your heightened senses absorb the first sounds and scents around you. In the distance you may hear the exquisite sound of the dawn chorus or nearer, the soft whistling snore of the person sleeping next to you. Then the perfume of the expensive face cream on your pillow teases your nose and you notice the state of your physical being.
Is that the sun on your face and does this feel like your own bed? You stretch one leg luxuriously and then the other one and familiarity assails the senses. Your eyes are forced ever so slightly open by some invisible force. Yes, those are your drapes shifting ever so slightly in the breeze.
Then a quick check to make sure your body is in working order before gingerly raising yourself up on one elbow to pick up the glass by the bed. The last of your five senses is assaulted by the warm water that has been out all night on your night stand.” What time is it?” you croak before peering at the clock. You turn on the radio and the sound of Radio Four completes your journey into reality. That is of course unless you have been dragged out of your slumber by a small child bouncing on you, a cute little dog nudging your face or the clamorous noise of a very loud alarm clock.