I had a dream I was a man with solid properties and
talents. It morphed into an endless avalanche. The moment
my lovely wife kissed me to wake me from my dream,
I could see my lovely daughter and my elder darling son,
standing by remembrance day at bay, that’s what it was —
I remember the feeling clearly, the words ringing in my head like a bell —
‘by remembrance day at bay’ — I knew what they meant until I was awakened,
then the knowledge faded, but the emotion remained, terrible like a fault
in my chest — a scar, I can still feel it, passing my mind over it like
fingers over old pain, the cringe that rekindles the trauma, the pain returns,
there they are, my son and daughter waving last goodbyes and crying, fading
in the wind, in the coming morning mist. My wife kisses me awake,
and I scream, kick back the sheets, reaching out my hand to save them, but they’re
gone,
and I’m sitting there, sweating, shivering in bed before dawn,
in the wake of a broken vision, calling after them,
trying to remember how it happened so I can tell
my wife — she’s fallen back asleep — had she ever woken up? — so I can
tell her what went down in the theater of my mind. She’s sleeping so beautifully.
So blissfully. When I open my eyes later that morning,
she’s smiling at me, asking me why I had been so restless in the night,
wondering if I’d like some breakfast. I tell her I have nothing but adoration for her,
enduring and undying love. She smiles at me and leaves the room. I grab the picture frame
on my nightstand and pass a finger over the young smiling faces. I get up and shave and have
breakfast with her — no just coffee, not today — and go to work, saying nothing of the night’s events.