Nap by Paul Smith

 

Nap

Today’s nap

was like no other

in other naps

you dream about

the life you lived

the lives you didn’t live

this one was different

I dreamed about all the

other naps I napped

how dreamy they were

and how I could send myself

from a life lived to

a life imagined

all in all

they are about equal

if your imagination is clear

and lucid

and not handicapping you like

the nags you handicapped at Pimlico

you realize

even in your wildest dreams

you will probably screw up

that life imagined too

so why worry about it?

You are now free to nap and

imagine and go places you

probably should have gone

but didn’t

without the consequences

your bed is soft

the afternoon light is silvery gray

your mind is far away

where nothing can hurt you

and all the hurts

that hurt you once

are outside your bedroom window

speeding to the other side

of the Milky Way

___

Paul Smith writes poetry & fiction.  He lives in Skokie, Illinois with his wife Flavia.  Sometimes he performs poetry at an open mic in Chicago.  He believes that brevity is the soul of something he read about once, and whatever that something is or was, it should be cut in half immediately.

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