Last Night In Furtive Dream Poem by Patti Masterman

Last night in furtive dream
Wheels turned and cogs smashed together
Out of anyone's control;
All those that I once loved
Were thrown together in catastrophe
And the ones who'd already died
Were busy dying again
And the young ones held hostage by the drama.

Then when I woke, I was amazed to discover
That things which had seemed random chance before
Had in fact happened at the correct time
To cause the least stress and imposition;
Inhibition, of the ones left behind,
And death no longer seemed so contrarian,
Ahead of schedule: instead Death seemed most practical
Doing things in a sensible time.

The collision of the old, in their wearing away
And the young, setting out with their fresh hearts
Was stood apart; averted by a safety factor of years
And it was a happy thing, to know that the present perfect
Was never going to be mortgaged of hopefulness
By the hoary past holding onto it, with it's last bitter strength-
And this is the way that the soul's brilliance reveals things to us
And this is the way it has ever been.