Waking Dream

Guests came uninvited
Not unwanted
Some stayed all night
Some just long enough

I was told I acted strangely
I asked if they were really here
Where here was, also in question,
but Peyote Woman did come

Thick blue black braided hair
With black hole eyes
No iris, only placid pupil
Sitting quietly, listening

Full skirt bunched up around her
Colorful blouse and shawl
She did not speak
This did not concern me

In the morning I am taller
I walk silently on cement
Looking down, I see shadows
of the soles of my boots

The shadow soles walk beneath me
I float above the sidewalk
Surprised to be so high
I fumble for a cigarette

One falls slowly to the ground
Gently hits and two cigarettes bounce back up
Only to fall back, hit again to become four
Soon I am surrounded

Thousands of cigarettes dancing under
And around my boots
This does not concern me
There is a war raging far away

Soldier brother pawn dressed to kill
Helmet, uniform, gun and ammo
He is hiding from the enemy
In the bushes along my sidewalk

Friends, brothers and sisters
They don't know me, but
This does not concern me
There is always a war raging somewhere