The Stone Dream by Stephen Saul

i dreamed
i was a wooden horse
a gift to trojans
and then
a broken pale
on a wooden step

i dreamed
i was a poem shredded
scattered like waste
in abandoned rail yards

i dreamed
i was a whore a saint
a drag queen a wild thing
lost found confused enlightened

i dreamed
the stone dream
where a bad wind rages
our city streets
leaving our young men
to howl in ruins of stone
and to scream obscenities
in the flesh and blood
of birth and hard-on
only to weep
the tears of mothers
and of madmen
against mausoleum walls
in shadows of bronzed glory

once again the beast wanted nothing
but the death of everything we love

i dreamed
the dream of wise men
old
long suffering
who sit like death on their balconies
at twilight
and vouchsafe the eternal flame of silence

and i dreamed
the dream of wild horses
that rage hill and valley
where rings of pale fire
ignite the starless night

i dreamed
the waking dream
god in the darkness
impenetrable silence
fucking myriad of names
words of blasphemy
spilled like water from my trembling lips
i have worhipped in all YOUR temples
now come die in mine

and i dreamed
the night dream
old men rising
from the neon shadows
to stand lonely sentinels
at deserted gates

i dreamed
the dreams
of starry-eyed dreamers
on the subways
and the sidewalks
and the ferries
from brooklyn to the golden gate
where the steam rises
and the waters swell
and the sweaty masses press
only to weep
in the end
with the young men
and the old men
the mothers
and their daughters
all quiet
all hands interlaced
in candlelit fields of night

stephensaul.com