<nightmare>

<nightmare>

 <i>

  <\a man with a future>

  <\a man with dreams>

  <\a man with nothing to lose>

  <\a man with everything to lose>

   <present>

    they live with me still:

    taste of her thighs

    on humid nights

    in Ithaca. Me in the library

    decoding symbolic

    logic with a key

    that made no sense

    but worked

    out in the proof.

    <past>

     it - whatever

     it is - remains.

     whether I will

     or no: brain cells

     puzzling out

     memories

     like a wishing 

     well

     <future>

      it will come

      to pass 

      or not:

      the house

      in Old Town,

      happiness 

      or true love.

      the days shorten

      along with

      the years.

      <sleep>

       i pull your hair

       from the fire,

       your skin blackened

       on the severed head

       my father threw there

       in a rage of sorrow

       that earth knows

       when scrying 

       the skies for rain,

       his animal cry

       sinking its teeth

       into the tongues

       of withered 

       wheat fields.

       </sleep>

      </future>

     </past>

    </present> 

   </i>

</nightmare>

Copyright 2013 Charles David Miller. All rights reserved.