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'Tempest of the Sheets'

 

I dreamt I had a friend,
She was perfect for me:
Glittering between my sheets,
As I lay numbed by my pillow.
She poured to me, dreadlocks tumbling
Wrapped me with tanned arms,
Understood my need for peace and love,
Knew me and what I wanted,
Gave me the jewellery that best becomed me,
Bracelets and bangles of wood and gold,
A breastplate of precious stones:
More a decoration or declaration of the cleavage;
I turned to the mirror and saw Sycorax.

At the wedding I was part of the crowd,
The pool rippled with those left behind
I was looking on, chosen to be a at the top
Warm even though water prickled my face
Next to the mermaid with red hair.
Smiling at the spectacle,
Clapping at the speeches,
Knowing it was a fairytale but enjoying the romance
Smug in my knowledge;
I did not think about him then

The one I had been laughing with in the pool.
Side by side and legs intertwined
I squirted water in his face:
The casualness that can be achieved in dreams,
Although between the sheets I am sweating,
Clammy and dizzy; out-of-it:
‘What care these roarers for the name of king?’

At the end I was searching in rooms for him;
Thinking he had forgotten me once again,
Tearing past mother who was packing up my books.
But it was my friend who found me,
She consoled me with hippy wisdom;
Reminded me of what she had learnt from me.
I thought she would leave me, but she came with us:
My family and my books, moving on to pastures new, or was it home?
He was there too; he had been waiting for me.

The dream comforted me:
Reminded me of what was missing,
Yet stroked and cradled me at the same time;
The dark chasm echoed with sweet aires.
How I cried, oh to dream again:
Shipwrecked on the island of my bed.

 

 

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