The Dream of Waking

… in the bottom of a boat, badly wounded,
crying and stroking the face of the other, who
was dying; and saying, “Come on now, you’ll
be all right. You’ll be all right.”

Something is there. And teacher here at home
Curled fast on the quilt like Kitten, saying Come
You’ll be all right, you’ll be all right-is gone,
And the water trembles upward into light,
And the light’s smile breaks, is laughter-it is me
And the room and the tree: oh, morning, morning.

And the frost is starry, like the sun between my eyes
In my lashes so they open: and the white
Is the breath the night breathed, there like mine;
My clouds are cover and my nightgown and the breath
That prints me on the window; and my sun
Is gold all mixed with air, is my own life

So he wakes? No, wakes from; and the teacher cat
Is the nurse of the world, his clouds are plaster brown with blood,
And he is back for good: the boat is bodies
And the body broken in his broken arms
And the voice, the old voice: Please don’t die
His life and their death: oh, morning, morning.