Poor Fantine

There was a time when men were kind,
And their voices were soft,
And their words inviting.
There was a time when love was blind,
And the world was a song,
And the song was exciting.
There was a time when it all went wrong.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by,
When hope was high and life, worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die,
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid,
And dreams were made and used and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid,
No song unsung, no wine, untasted.

But the tigers come at night,
With their voices soft as thunder,
As they tear your hope apart,
And they turn your dream to shame.

He slept a summer by my side,
He filled my days with endless wonder.
He took my childhood in his stride,
But he was gone when autumn came!

And still I dream he'll come to me,
That we will live the years together,
But there are dreams that cannot be,
And there are storms we cannot weather!

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living,
So different now from what it seemed.
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

Secret

Voices echo in this dark jungle.
Once, recently, a dear friend asked me
a simple question.

Did you ever have the experience
of someone singing you to sleep?

Keeping to myself the full answer, I said
"yes, my mother of course.
Aunt Rita once as well."

but baby bottle days have passed long ago.
different ones now. They sing me to sleep.

The Dream

Last night you were in a dream
I dreamed you were
walking on the shore
over the little stones
and I was walking with you
last night when I dreamed about you
I dreamed I followed you
I thought I was awake
I wanted you
as though you were a young seal
you were what I wanted
as a young seal
in the eyes of a hunter
before it dives because it's being followed
you were what I wanted
that's how
I wanted you
in my dream about you.


~Inuit Poem from "I Breathe A New Song"
Trans. Lewis

The Sense of Wonder

Far to the north in a land called Svithiod
Is a mountain a thousand miles high.
Once in a thousand years a raven comes
To sharpen her beak.
When the mountain has been worn smooth
With the surface of the earth
A moment of eternity will have passed.

-Captain Du Marbois

Response

I was up late that night,
A lady wrapped in blue.
I was reading my favorite book.
It was trancendent.
It changed me this night.
Bradbury changed me this night.