For what's a break?

Right now I am taking a “break”.

It hardly seems like a break though.

As I sit here waiting for my next lecture, 

Those two psets due at midnight seem to get further and further away from me, 

A bit like stars moving away from each other,

Due to the expanding universe.

Well, if this is not a break, then what is one?

Is it when you take a moment to do something x

When you've been doing  y for a long time?

Like playing the piano,

After having read a book for an hour?

But you are still going to be doing something 

When you do x instead of y, though, right?

Is it when you allow your thoughts to roam freely?

Like when you let your imagination take over 

And think about the wonderful house you want to own one day,

Or the form of government you think would be best for us.

But once you are aware of what you're thinking,

You’re not thinking freely anymore, are you?

Is it when you allow your body to switch to low power mode?

Like when you go to sleep perhaps?

Your organs get some rest.

Oh and your thoughts are rather free too!

But wait, there’s still one issue,

You will never be able to stop time!

How can it be a break when only you turn off,

But everything else still moves around you?

Look at me:

Slept too much.

Kept those two psets for “later”.

“Later” came closer.

But I am still stuck.

Maybe there is no such thing as a true break then.

Maybe a break is simply a task labelled “break”,

That one has to execute to not break the machine.

Which machine, you ask?

Our self, the machine that we are,

That performs task after task,

From “sleeping” to “running” to “studying” to “sleeping” again,

Without taking any break,

Except for the rare “break” that it executes every now and then,

Like the one I am executing right now.