We Are Walking

by George Wallace

we are walking, you are having a bad dream and i am a character in it
you look at me, you are standing on the petals of an enormous flower
the land is yellow in every direction, the sky is lavendar and heavy
your eyes open and shut, one might describe this as a fluttering motion
sometimes i pinch myself around you, even then i have no feeling
your eyes are butterfly wings, sky is pollen, dust is everywhere
you are having a bad dream, you have a name like suspicion
you kick at the world like raw wheat or flax on a miller's wheel
the land goes on forever, it is covered with pollen in the sun
this sunlight is dust on the wings of an enormous butterfly
like a field of sunflowers after a longwinded conversation
you are having a bad dream, some dreams do go on a bit
your eyes open and shut, we are walking in a field of sunflowers
the sky goes heavy with dust, i am a character in your lavendar sky

George Wallace is the poet laureate of Suffolk County, NY