In$0mn! @c Issues Poem by Someone Else

the pinprick lights that
so i love, the heavy
veil of eventide outside
these windows freshly draped
yellow streets and lonely cabs
they kill the stillness
steal the slumber
from my eyes
so do the dreams escape.

but i know a dream
that stays even in this wake
recurring that perchance
i shut my eyes in passing
thought, i see a face again
distinct figure in a maze
hazy memory, smiling out
of this treacherous mind’s frame
as an old —too old— love
looking for unanswered questions.

where is he, that man
that’s taking all my dreams
does he
still dance and listen
to that song i learned to love
does he
still stay up late building
equations in his head or shaping
foolish dialogues with stars or is he
laying now beneath warm quilts
and patterns of unharnessed rest does he
still dream of me?

where am i in that head of sleep
a forgotten friend or sentiment
an aspiration or a stitch
across a heart, a love, a ghost
does he recall the conversation
still on replay in my mind
or am i the only one that’s keeping
all his words alive?

why did he go, that man
who promised he would wait did he
lie or get cold feet did he
forget i told him i’d be coming home?

where is he, that man
that unkind echo
of the seconds ticking
into night only to dawn
another empty day
that reason
for punctuations out of place that thief
who maybe slumbers with my sleep
does he (can he)remember me?