Uppers and Downers

Alarm’s still strobing on my eyelids
Lemon-bright drip in a paper cup
Caffeine chorus in the bloodstream
I chase the cursor till the Sun comes up

Buzzing blinds, a deadline heartbeat
Eyes still wired from a dreamless night
Brain revving up as I hit the glow
Start the ritual, flash the light

Sugar rush, adrenal flush
Chasing scores in spreadsheet mush

Uppers and downers, uppers and downers
Blue and yellow, trading hours for hours
Every day, a staircase made of pills and power
Every night sinking in smoke-filled towers

Neon signs light the way back home
Whiskey whispers in a cobalt glass
Street-lamp halos crown the raindrops
I chase a buzz while I hunt for grass

Blue screens flicker outside and in
Current fading underneath my skin
I'm sinking low, but I cannot scream
Counting breaths until the final dream

Nicotine sigh, melatonin sky
Low-pass world where the sirens die

Uppers and downers, uppers and downers
Blue and yellow, trading hours for hours
Every day, a staircase made of pills and power
Every night sinking in smoke-filled towers

Yellow bleeds to blue, green moment in between
Hear my heartbeat syncopate the RGB machine
If I flicker out tomorrow, will the color keep its sheen?
Or will the spectrum run to gray like nothing’s in between?

Uppers and downers, uppers and downers
Blue and yellow, trading hours for hours
Every day, a staircase made of pills and power
Every night sinking in smoke-filled towers

Uppers and downers, uppers and downers
Blue and yellow, trading hours for hours
Uppers and downers, uppers and downers