When you were in despair

Driving distractedly and

Waiting for an exit sign

Two deers leapt from the roadside forest

And sprang with abandon across the highway

Dodging the oncoming cars

With balletic grace

You smiled for a moment

Thoughts like a hook

Piercing the tranquil mind

Fears like a baby crying

Looking for a parent’s kiss—

To everything detach

Even to what you call yourself

In your hands an ancient letter

Dead because never sent

To a love that never was

Reading the lines memory stirs

Before you rip it into pieces

And toss it away

In the silent hours

When you are alone with sleep

And dreams

You hear shouting in the darkened street

And see the car lights crossing

Your ceiling

You pray and fall back to sleep

Hoping for peaceful dreams

You distrust the day

It is dull and empty

Filled with purposeless challenges

And chance humiliations

The blandishments of whores

And the solace of paid friends

What if everything did not conform

To what you thought

The blue sky was not blue

The clouds did not obscure the sun

Or lead to darkest night

What if the eyes of your love were not true

Or a man was really a woman and a woman a man

What if everything you thought you knew

Revealed that you were not even you

A flock of bIrds fly

To the bare tree in winter

They sing and fly on