DREAMING ON A PARK BENCH

Working in my sleep, moving words
Rewriting my last soliloquy
Reworking clarity of declaration
Rewording all metaphors for love
Grinding my teeth, trying to bite
Off pain, to find peaceful ground
In my memory fortress, so long away
From home, in defense of a world
In constant violence, my peace
Is at stake, protecting the force
That words obey.

Boxing in disturbance, shipping it off
Holding on to romance, to hope of tenderness
The birth of my last child
When I have exhausted, counting the ways
That I love you, to the moon
My head on its pillow
Sailing beyond the Ides of March
Rudderless below the stars
Moving cargo, heavy boxes, baggage
That is best thrown overboard to drift alone
I am coming to you, with my sonnet
The tides and current are bringing me home.

c) Jan G. Otterstrom F.
    March 20. 2007
    Costa Rica