Unknown


I rub my eyes,
Trying to scoop the sleep
Into my fingers
While leaving the dreams
To flower in the silence of morning
Watered by memories and held up
By seemingly fragile wishes 
For tomorrows’ tomorrows

Perhaps the words are lost,
Padding through the dark
On the soft paws of a cat
Prowling in the night;
The muse has tossed her wings
By the wayside
Next to a half broken orange crate
And a clutter of crumpled pages
Blowing in the wind;
The tumbleweed rolls into the sunset
Like a cowboy with a brown hat,
The taste of prairie dust
Stuck in his throat
And the memory of a woman
On his mind.

It’s a long way to Paradise
Riding a train bound for nowhere,
A few well placed words 
Could make the miles slide faster by,
And this steel wheel melody
Plays an old familiar tune
In a plaintive baritone
That lingers on my mind.

Somewhere outside my window,
Past the raindrops on the glass
And the wilderness that stretches
Long past midnight,
There’s a city by a river
And a garden where the artists 
Share their wares,
Where the nightlights 
Shine like ribbons on the water
And although I’ve never seen it,
You can find me there
Reflected in the purest shade of blue.

And the muse doubles back
To grab a word or two
From amongst the windswept cast-offs
In the street,
But she doesn’t leave her footprints
And she doesn’t leave a rhyme,
Then she’s off again
In the blink of a weary poet’s eye,
But there’s a whisper of her shadow
As she slips around the corner
Of my mind
And the whistle blows
As the train leaves the station
Next stop …
Unknown.




Janet Reid
december 2008






Awarded by Poetic Constellations