Sleepwalking

Milliken Mills Library
Tutoring on a snowy day
January 15th, a month
after I made
my last heart-bursting trip

I think back to
all your wisdom
your softly spoken words
and your reassurance

This too shall pass
You do not know how strong you are until
you are thrown into the deep end
I live for thee
and many more

I now whisper them
as I shush myself to sleep
pretending as if
it is really you
who talks me through
my dreams

And I oversleep somedays
meandering through the twisted trails
of oblivion
hoping I bump into you

we'd stop for a chat
sit on a park bench together
walk a while
and laugh as we did before

yet the incessant alarm bells of technology
and my own clock trapped inside
nudge me forward
to wakefulness and
to face another long day with
just the whiff of you