Dog-eared dreaming

  

    A number of men sat
    ‘Round the table discussing,
    Words.  I heard “philosophy”
    Mentioned, but I mostly
    Heard music that only
    Occasionally let me feel
    Words.  Words that could

    Sing.  There were times I
    Reached or stepped with
    Something that ached; so
    I stopped rather than moved
    On listening to what I
    Heard.  The men seemed to
    Speak of conditional relations

    Overriding what might otherwise
    Have been said, if it was said long
    Ago or in another context.
    I watched through a mist of music
    The rising and fall of it all, the
    Imputation of sadness
    And inevitable loss.

    I rolled over and the ringing
    In my ears increased.  I checked
    The time.  I’d slept too long
    And it drowned out the nuance,
    And signification, the bandied
    Words.  The boy on the Ferris
    Wheel saw it all and wept.