Fixed Window

I start earlier now
And stop before it stretches
I don’t keep the window open
Once the light changes

There’s a point in the afternoon
Where I don’t add anything new

  And whatever hasn’t begun by then
  Waits until another day
  I leave at the same time

Even when there’s more to do
I don’t carry the remainder with me

And I don’t revisit it later

If it doesn’t fit inside those hours

It doesn’t get reshaped
It stays incomplete
Without becoming urgent

It’s a fixed window
That’s all

I don’t answer after a certain point

Not because I’m unavailable

But because the window has closed
And I don’t reopen it

I don’t explain the cutoff

And I don’t soften it
I let the silence hold
Whatever didn’t make it through

There are things I could extend

But I don’t
There are days I could stretch

But I don’t

Nothing improves by running late

And nothing stabilises
By staying open longer than it should

It’s a fixed window
Still holds

I close it