Rewrite

At night, cliches drawn through the day 
I deign to frame another way -- 
e.g., "To be or not to be...?" 
becomes "Is suicide for me...?"
"A jug of wine, a loaf of bread..." 
I hear as "Rye...on rye!" instead. 

At night, the lines I’ve run across 
I recompose with no great loss.
What reads "A stitch in time saves nine" 
now reads, "That tatter'd sleeve…? Not mine!"
"It was a dark and stormy night" 
becomes "The weather suck'd. Alright...?" 

At night, I rewrite news (today's) 
in nuanc’d, neat and novel ways --
now "Climate change is here to stay" 
reads "Hey! How hot it feels today!"
What was "I'm Socially Secure!" 
is now "Quit working…? Premature!" 

At night, the tales I heard when young 
sound different, like a foreign tongue.
Now, "Once upon a time there was..." 
is "That can't happen here because'..."
while "ever after" has become 
"your sell-by date's expir’d, ol’ chum."