time crept back in

I thought I was going to be writing about a love story, 

where I got swept off my feet and we all lived happily ever after

I thought I was going to tell you a tale about my summer

working nearly naked in the ganja fields, tucked in the golden hills of rural California

There I fell in love next to a crystal and koi pond

beside the grand piano underneath an overhanging old oak tree

There time and space separated for a moment

and there was nothing but us, and the stars and the satellites in the sky

But as time crept back in

the fantasy grew thin

And I started to drown in my own sea

of suspended animation

And I knew the dream couldn’t last

But I didn’t want to wake up

To anything but the past

Because the present and future all seemed stifling

And while I was paralyzed 

simultaneously by both pleasure and fear, 

my voice became silent and still.

But when my power returned 

The truth became alive and burned

even though at first the words were shy, wary and shrill