Last night I dreamed of you once more
I don’t know why it happened
I wandered down a corridor
Anticipating nothing more
Than labyrinth and cellar door
With monsters in the background
But lifting latch to enter in
To where subconscious led me
I found a room I’d never seen
And furnishings within my dream
That hinted at forbidden scenes
Unknowing feet had fed me
A dozen hints to where I was
Now trespassing, unbidden
A hidden world, a silent scream
An unfamiliar home would seem
Her imprint on your self-esteem?
I wonder how I’d know; when
It’s many years since we were one
And known to all as coupled
This showing of a life undone
A virtual necronomicon
To rub it in, how things went wrong
Two people were unshackled
And suddenly your face was there
But not as I remembered
New colours of your clothing; hair
Now tamed to something debonair
You tried to speak, your voice unclear
Imploring my endeavours
What could I do? I turned and ran
Unseeing, my escape sought
And fleet of foot, I left behind
The stranger found within my mind
Familiar face but false, unkind
Unbearable this torment
I tossed and turned an hour more
Unsettled by this vision
My hopes remained that one whose snore
Had lent such comfort when before
From dreams had landed on the floor
Beside me might awaken
And somehow find me in this plight
Besieged by thoughts, unwanted
And ride to seek the lover, whose
Untimely entrance might impose
Some limit on my own repose
But not a soul I spotted
And waking to a darkened room
The cat asleep; your breathing
I lay and wondered in the gloom
At all I’d seen and felt and done
And what might prompt this change of tune
Your visit to my dreaming
If somewhere you were suffering
And hoping I could save you
Could rescue you from what you chose
The path you trod, the door did close
When she sought more and you arose
To bite the hand that fed you
I turned my head from bitter thoughts
Regrets and all that shattered
To ask myself, if I were there
And had some proof that you still care
Would it still matter, anywhere?
And hoped to give my answer
Katherine Shirley 