Sweet Dreams

different words to say the same things. 

fingertips like broken arrows. lips like sand. 

time sleeps in gentle storms that go on too long. 

flesh. musty rooms with nothing inside. 

their voices. different thieves. same crime. 


the measure is a condition of the scale. 

gravity is a patient pendulum. 

choice fumbles. in the fever of want. 

the depth is a confession of the fall. 

different symptoms. same disease. 


the rope is soft. 

the knot is hard. 

everything else  is noise. 


the doll has stiff fingers. 

her dress is stained. 

her cradle is soft. 

the sheets are red.