When The Dream Wakes

there's a north wind blows after sunrise
like your breath running from this day
you're a million miles away
from where you want to be
from oceans and castles

you look across the sky
at its white, billowy silhouettes
of mythical creatures carrying rain
and know they're the most harmless thing
you'll come across all day

the tea gets poured
feet rest on a stool
the paper's still open to the page
with the German artist's out-of-focus painting
the one that inspired you at the art gallery
the day you walked away from it
knowing you'd found a new favourite artist
one you hadn't been brought up to love

you know tonight will be swirling
with your friends' excitement
about their books just out and coming out
about the job they'd found under the mat this morning
that promises to take them around the world for a good buck
and you'll be happy for them
like you always are
like they are for you
when success unpredictably goes to bed with you
on a good night

when a dream you'd concocted breathes life into you
you into it
your only symbiotic relationship
and you'll leave them just around midnight
feeling their sympathetic eyes upon you
and you'll wonder if this is what Dorothy went through
trying to explain to her family
that there really is a place called Oz