if, during the night, you stir
rolling to your side
turn on the lamp

exploding from its black cocoon
the starkly lit scene of our sleep

and then fast back to off
dark bedroom
normalcy restored

I will ask you what
(it's just my nature)

and if you say
oh nothing, go back to sleep
I will

but I'll think about it for a minute or so first
turning it over like a giant eyeball
that peers in the window briefly
in the background of a bad impressionist horror film from Canada

and I'll have to ask
are you sure

if you tell me then
oh, it's just that I thought there was a snake in the bed

I will probably get up at that point
to drown the room in light again
maybe on the pretext of going to the bathroom
or maybe to look into your squint and laugh
but really just because
I trust you, yes
but in the night there are no experts

the night mind is suspicious
as a chinchilla never fully trusts the rancher
who delivers food to his cage with such terrible regularity

don't take it personally

JD Frey--October 20, 1997