When you wake again <br />the donkey will be standing idly in the road, <br />the old man will open his shop, <br />the seagulls will tread critically <br />among the piles of garbage, <br />wind will flap small religious photographs <br />pegged to the ice cream stall, <br />the old woman and her daughter <br />will be sitting under the black cross <br />near the santo ninyo, <br />a man from the desert will go mad <br />in the bar by the marketplace, <br />a boy bandaged like a doll <br />will gaze from the tenth story window. <br /> <br />When you wake again <br />dusk will be falling across the harbour, <br />fishing boats will be rocking by the stone wharf, <br />cold night air will ripple the line of water, <br />a sinker will fall from a bridge <br />and bury itself in darkness, <br />the last train will climb the hill <br />turning its back on the sea. <br /> <br />When you wake again <br />drunks will skate in wide circles over the pond, <br />the ice cream seller will fold up his van, <br />a blonde-haired stranger will stroll uphill <br />with melons and cheese for dinner, <br />the neon signs will come on <br />and tomorrow’s clothes will hang in unopened wardrobes. <br /> <br />When you wake again <br />a favourite pillow will cover a magic toy car <br />that glows all night in the wind of silence, <br />a voice will cry out in a dream, <br />a woman will open the door <br />and recognise only the layer of dust on your shoes. <br /> <br />When you wake again <br />your life will fill the house <br />like a tap left running day and night <br />for a thousand years. <br /> <br />When you wake again <br />when the balcony crumbles at last <br />into the swimming pool <br />when eagles pause to talk with your sleeping body.<br /><br />Peter Boyle<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-eagles-pause-to-talk-with-your-sleeping-body/
