another little piece of me is gone
surrendered to time
when I was asleep, I was six again
with the world a bright, sunshiny place
when poetry met me in a field near the school
but when I awoke
it was so dark in my room
no stars or moon
and I was old, beyond my own reckoning
but I still had words
to describe and comfort
so when I fell asleep again I was seventeen
on the cusp of a bigger world
with more people and places
and words faded as I soaked in the city
when I turned around I was twenty-eight
with my own walls closing me in
there were few words as I made a family
but again at thirty-nine the words bowled me over
as I saw a field like when I was six
I began to write
hoping to capture the feelings
so when I’m ninety-nine I’ll remember
my dreams when I’m awake