Before Sleep and Work

Tonight I will enter these lines in the shared diary of souls

Because I know I must add them before they disappear 

And I alone am responsible for their care.
It will be read by a few, the words all that is clear

But the meaning, while not obscured, different to each

As if we each see the same thing with our own eyeglasses, which focus things perfectly for that one or this one.
If there is a single meaning it will elude me as well

Though I am first to chase it down 

Like a boy chases his shadow.
Then I will be able finally to sleep

And when I wake like a child sitting up

In the surf as dreams cascade around me and fall back into a larger mass of presence,

I will open the double doors of the newspaper office
And say hello and walk up the old stairs wide enough for a car to drive up them

And type out the writing that will reach thousands

And be quickly read, thousands of words instantly forgotten 
Though it must leave a single shape of meaning, even if muddy,

Even if only for a short time, like a child’s castle by the surf
Still standing amid the roar of nearby waves

And the flutter of a newspaper pulled out of a sunbather’s hands by the wind

That will distract other beach goers,

Who will turn as if the shadow of someone familiar could be seen on the sand.