Dream of Things

by Sharon M. White

A lake, a snake and two black herons

talk of wastelands, mountains and barrens

where things aren't what they seem

and what they seem can't be things at all

because not even dreams could produce

such things rising or falling

being created or imagined

and the world becomes a vast cloud of confusion

everything ruptures--

a diffusion of illusory things:

beginnings and endings

life and death

good and bad--

time warps

the universe regresses to primordial sludge

further still

until it's but a smudge

of a thought in the cosmic mind

of a sleeping god

who once upon a time

deigned to dream of us

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