DREAM-SONNET

DREAM-SONNET

If the dreamer wakes before the dream is finished, Must Arthur Rimbaud crouch by the laburnum tree, Must Egon Schiele wank, with no controlling hand Compelling him to view that awful nakedness. If the dreamer stirs, erect, the dream half-finished, Must Parliament remain in session, waiting, and Must I leave the Christmas party, reluctantly, To loiter outside appalled by the sudden emptiness. But if the dreamer dreams the dream-poem finished, My father shall not tarry long in Purgatory, Nor Tony bleed, eternally distressed; Jesus shall pluck the nails out, step down jauntily, To find in the shattered chaos of His hand The world He created out of a bloody sea.