In dreams sometimes I walk on paths well-trod In my experience and I explore alternatives to outcomes Now recorded in time’s yellowing pages on fading script. It is the interminable “what if scenario” of the brain or Some itchy thought scratching at the inner lining of my skull, Waiting to jump out and present itself complete And free of consequence. These are the times of swashbuckling pirate dreams and So now at dawn’s first breath I lie eyes open In dream and explore forks of road not taken Calculating their outcome and level of my desire. It is early summer and with window open and unmated Mockingbird call I drift to a time of younger tenor When heat lay sticky on the sheets and you dared Not move: the very action burned calories that heated Further the steaming unbearable situation. Sleep had come from a cotton ball soaked in alcohol Rubbed by an asbestos blooded Grandmother immune to The heat on back already suffering from third degree Sunburn, aching for the waft of down drafted air Pushed by the groaning, sleepy ceiling fan. In the night’s dreams sweat flowed freely from Thoughts of swimsuits and prom-dresses slipping easily Off shoulders and delights that would lay in store. Never the thought that the exercise would be uncomfortable And, in the heat, barely worth the pleasure. In other REM sequences, tales of valor and glory Lifted from the pages of Fenimore Cooper or Francis Chichester. But boys sleep to pirate’s dreams and live by More accepted standards. So now, I wake in the full mouth of the dawn and Wonder what dreams were unrecorded when the Mockingbird first began to sing And what delights he dreamed of That herald his bright notes When he hoists the world in morning song. Far off, in a time not long ago, a boy set sail To accepted standards, secretly smiling at his pirate dreams.
This is the time of year I like to play with the neighborhood bachelor mockingbirds. On my morning (and sometimes evening) walks they will be trying to impress a potential mate with a lovely repertoire of song. I like to whistle some random tunes at them and they will respond in a very competitive fashion. I hope they are successful, I’m just trying to keep them in form!
I’ve had sketches of this one in a couple of notebooks, I hope you enjoy.