***This is based upon a dream I had last night. It isn't pretty....just felt I needed to get it off my chest.***


I had a dream last night.
I was in a foreign land
surrounded by strange faces and languages.
A beautiful girl
approached and spoke
to me in English
as if she had known me
for years.
Her gentle voice cooed
warmly about my ears
as I struggled to understand it.
Her words
slid through a mysterious accent
that enticed me
to ponder their meaning
with my heart
rather than
with my mind.

She then
quite abruptly
began to speak
of the man who looked like Danny Glover
and about how
if he were in America
he would be a great success
as he was so intelligent,
hard-working,
and devoted to improving himself,
while here,
he would only be a poor man
in a poor land
starving and growing old.

She said she needed to rest
turned and faded into the trees
like a dying mist.
My heart sank
and I felt so alone
as I watched the empty trees.
I must have loved this girl
for I already missed her so much.

"She'll be back"
a soft gravelly voice said.
I turned in its direction and stared in awe
at the man who looked like Danny Glover.
"She'll be back." he repeated,
showing me a broad
snowy-white smile.
I watched the salt and pepper stubble on his chin
as he began to tell me about how he could be
such a success
in America
because of his hard-working
devotion to bettering himself.

As I listened
I could tell
he was very intelligent,
very wise,
and I thought to myself
that if I took him to America
he could easily surpass
all of my endeavors.

"She's back." he said pointing behind me.
I excitedly turned
and was shocked to see
her body
crumpled in a fetal position
against a straw wall.
Her brown leathered skin
wrinkled and oily
glistened in the hot sunlight.
Her eyes bulged
against their lifeless lids.
The oddity of it all
forced me to stare at her
in attempt to understand.
I wanted to touch her
but chose not to.
I just watched
without blinking
until the pools
began to drown
my vision.

Behind me I heard
a soft gravelly voice saying,
"America....America...America......"

I awoke this morning
tired and grumpy at the world.
I spent my day
thinking about that girl I thought I loved
and about turning my back
on the man who looked like Danny Glover.