Beautiful dreamer

You, the butterfly -
I, Chuang-Tzu's
dreaming heart.
-Coleman Barks

The heat in the air has broken, so
the breeze is cooler than my body.
Sweat from my hair as I walk home -
no, wait, the very first drops of rain.
New leaves on top of the oaks and hollies
rustle and ripple under falling droplets.
The shift in scent, from flora to aqua,
is cool water after downing heady wine.

Last night, I dreamed a common theme.
I was chased through a city, the same
one where I've often been during sleep.
It has narrow, yellow-tinted streets,
and Asian figures flicker on billboards as
I direct a sports car smartly to safety,
wrists straining to hold a turning wheel.
I open the door into a sunny schoolroom,
where several faces look up to greet me
and congratulate me on finding a path
to escape.

Tonight, I lie in bed, drunk with life,
somewhere between dream and real.

Good morning, good morning

A tale of going east to west to north to south,
and around and around and around to come out: here.

5:02 AM. The arrival phone call from the airport.
Rise up and out of the house in ten minutes flat,
a mug of Pepsi One wedged next to the parking brake.
Off to Dulles. Roadway empty, sky a sullen blue.
A lighted flag, lifted only slightly by the breeze,
is vivid against the heavy cloud cover in the west.
Pick up around 5:40. The airport turnaround brings
to view a softer blue growing behind breaking clouds.
Traffic on the road just traveled picking up quickly
as business people push to make their flying daytrips.
On autopilot, see the 495-N sign but miss the exit.
Knowing this route well, cloverleaf to reverse course
again just before a 6 AM 66-E backup swallows all hope.
Around Beltway. up Parkway, all against commuter flow.
Friendly chatter about well-known things and mysteries
as the suitcase and guitar rattle together in the back.
Dawn is still hidden behind the passing cloudwall as
I leave Laurel at 6:40. Later would have been too late;
295-S thickens several times like a snake eating mice.
At Pennsylvania East the first rays of sunlight hit.
Do de loop de loop one last time to change direction,
from south to west-south-west, and open the car windows
to chill my bare arms before picking up hot chai tea.

Home at 7:40. Still dew on the tulips and a lonely iris,
and the fancy coral azalea blooms slowly in the shade.

Got the time tick-tick-tick-tickin' in my head
Got the time tick-tick-tick-tickin' in my head
Got the time tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-
Joe Jackson