When I Woke Up

When I woke up, I didn’t know where I was

My eyes were still shut to the world in which I was enclosed

The wet parade of the water down from the sky

White as the white of a dog with a white, little eye

But there’s no barkin’ up this tree

I can’t ask you to be with me

You’re stuck in a dream

Like a rubber boot in mud, and you’re empty

As the apartment in which I’m kickin’ around in like a stone

And if I am the dog, my dream’s the bone

But I’m the tree

With my feet in a knot, and the knot like a leash to the ground

And my eyes making bonnets o’ gaze to nightly surround

The face of the moon in her multitudinous shapes

Like the circles and folds in a cast-iron pan full of crepes

But there’s no fannin’ these flames

I am wet and still it rains

Then turns to snow

Like rabbit fur from rabbits with hearts cold

And since my hands are, my heart cannot be

But my hands are also empty

Like a winter tree

They were red when they should have been-

They were red when they should have been-

They were red when they should have been-

They were full when they should have been-

They were full when they should have been-

They were full when they should have been empty

And November is wetter and colder than October

And though they’re gone, I remember the circlin’ birds

When I break down, I leave the light on

And the man o’ sand comes with another dream I’ll ride upon

This song I wrote when I was living at College & Dufferin.

I remember white skies & bicycle rides home from work through the freezing rain.

And red, red trees that hadn't dropped their leaves yet.

Remembering & dreaming & waking up again.