Living as Kohaku

sleeping…
as the moon’s rays play across the room
the shadows they lay crawling into my dreams
to restore balance and peace…

a lone woman runs
barefoot and bare-chested
enjoying the hunt for a new record…
steady as the ocean waves, she keeps
and yells with delight at her triumph
waiting there for her, her wife and child…

as the wind rustles through the sand
and the sea washes away the footprints
of two men, one alive and one dead…
they walk side by side, talking softly
of the years that they had missed
enjoying now the companionship they had yearned for…

and the night is long and there is time
to slowly wake at my own pace…
and for now the shadows remain in my head
and the stories that are real must still be written…
at one’s own pace tonight, we write,
and I, I am still…
sleeping…