Remembering What Happened

          1

I wasn't walking
or even moving
the leaves were
maybe rustling
but certainly not
falling as I saw
one on my lap.


          2

So I guess I was sitting
under the maple
in the back yard
while my son chased
my daughter around
the peeling white garage
and my car on fire.


          3

I could hear them
laughing and pretending
one was a werewolf
and the other a tree
nymph or dryad I guess
while my burning car
was Aslan in his glory.


          4

There was no wind
to speak of still
the leaf on my lap
moved just a bit
when I thought of
the woman I love
who was staring at me.


          5

From up in the tree
her face peering through
her hair like a small
waterfall around her
bare feet on one branch
hands gripping another
and it started to rain.


          6

It rained only from her
hair or maybe her
eyes as my children
continued to run in mock
fear around the garage
and burning car
and I stood up to climb.


          7

There wasn't a branch
low enough for me
to reach I started panting
for air as my love
Rapunzelled her hair
which soon covered
me like rapid water.


          8

And then it was night
with my children inside
and probably asleep
as I reclined on a limb
high up in the tree
with the stars in my hair
my lover's fingertips.


          9

I fell asleep in that tree
in the arms of my love
and when I awoke
I was in the driver's seat
of my car with red
and yellow flames
all shooting around me.


          10

I sat in the burning car
my son chased my daughter
around the white garage
and my wife in the kitchen
was staring out the window
at me plucking a leaf
from the maple in the back.