When You Were Awake Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

even in dreams now I'm not always free

being scolded by people I don't know

standing in my own living room


who are these dream scolders

how did i let them in

how can I get them to leave


I wake up and feel that I've done wrong

but I haven't done a thing

but sleep an interrupted sleep


were there loud noises

did the world end while I was sleeping

is it the next day


or the one I was still in

when I dozed off.

some times in life


you lose your place in the scheme of things

you don't recognize faces

-how can you-


you never met

when you were awake.


mary angela douglas 10 may 2020