This Poem Is Not A Dream

THIS POEM IS NOT A DREAM This poem is not a dream It comes from where so many true poems come From the other side of the mind When it does not know peace - From the waking desire The hunger that is not satisfied The lonely life and the lonely mind- It comes from the search for love And the love itself – the joy of love- And from the memory of what we most deeply know when we are ourselves in love of another- This poem is not a dream- It comes from the waking world and the waking words- The hard truths the bitter small things The disappointments and rejections The endless small humiliations which Time and Chance make of us all- This poem comes from where we are most human With the pain of those closest to us- And our longing to save them and be loved forever by them- The dream is not the poem Life in its all its endless difficulties is the poem And this poem too Does not say half of all the hurt I have suffered in this one small day alone.