Wishes & Dreams Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Frost covered pane

takes all
my dreams & drawings

no matter how
doodlish

transforming them
into something more precious

frost pictures
taken in what’s happening

outside
& inside.

I draw an outline
(with the brush of my fingertip)

of a horse
& a horse

appears
& moves into it

as if on cue
from the field that exists
the other side of the window.

I draw another & another
but they remain
just sky & tree horses.

I draw your face
& you enter it

like a spirit

smiling
with collected logs

that the roaring
fire devours

greedily
into the night

I asleep
at your feet

and all the candles
gone out

the pictures vanished

taken back by the frost
dreaming its own dreams

and tracing
the outlines

of its own thoughts
upon the window panes

of our wishes & dreams.