ELINOR BENEDICT

Usually My Dreams Mean Nothing

Last night after the moon fell down
I learned my father lives up north
in a brick building, even though
I remember his funeral, the rain,
the white rose.
                        Tonight I glide
over blue snow, wondering why,
if he lives so close, I’ve never
visited him. I slip down from the sky
into a green vestibule.
                                    Rising
from a chair with small wheels,
he gives me his hand. How smooth
his skin has become! Does he know
who I am, this scar-faced
woman?
              The people in white who
own him cluster around us,
pulling our sleeves. They think
I will take him back, but I
promise nothing.
                           Why is no one
crying? My once-tightened throat
breathes easily, my lost hair grows
new roots. I discover the dead rose
has followed the moon
to the sea.
                  Waking, I swim
to the surface of morning, lie
still, consider the strange news,
the unknown faces, the odd
humor of time.