Compensation

I don’t sleep anymore the way I did
          afloat in dreams of neon dread
          stretched like a tissue paper kite
          caught hiding naked in the wires
          tendons shrieking:  Freeze!  Freeze!
          for my dearest familiar private enemies
          were hunting me down
          again

I used to laugh clear through the day
          as I wander now at ease
          through the valley of my strange home land
          pacific monsters of sleep roll their grinning heads up to me
          and I laugh when the gorillas come
          down to the corral
          at eve

But when the dog thumps down in a cooler hall,
Or I wake up to the blare of moonlit curtains,
Or the wind hoots through the chimney,
I stretch my legs slowly out straight
Breathe without a sound
Pull my pillow over my forehead
And wait for dawn to find me.