To Sleep

My favorite thing to do
is dream
though I pray you understand
I don’t mean those boorish dreams
dreams of things that may one day
come to pass; no, I do not
dream as Martin Luther did
of a distant powerful goal

No, I prefer the kind of dream
that comes unbidden
as I sleep
the kind of dream that could never
come to pass in any way
dreams where I can fly or die or cry
or any of the other million
things I’ll never do

of people I will never meet
some fictional, brought to this world
by someone else who dreamed them up
then let them loose for me to take
and believe in and become friends
with until I awake and sigh

or the people that my mind
creates on its own, that talk
to me and walk with me and cry to me
and die for me
who are these people that don’t exist
in the worlds that I control
where I can do anything or nothing
without
trying

and that’s why I love to dream
to close my eyes and then become
the knight or priest or president
or just someone normal in a place
where everything is different.