i'll see you soon

i found you in my dreams this morning
dawn came boldly through the blades of blinds
and i stirred slightly, didn't want to lose you,
so i glued my sleeping eyes shut.

you were living in an eastern coastal town
with a starving sea tucked below precarious cliffs
and the waves crashed like restless vagrants
desperate for a way home.

i found you were a mechanic and you worked hard
with black grease coating calloused fingers
but you seemed ashamed to be found
doing such work you considered unimpressive.

it had been years, so we talked like honest children
about how you were always were a writer,
how i should have known better,
how when you're young you never realize
there are no time-outs or do-overs.

intrinsically, we knew the sand was thinning out;
i would soon have to jump those cliffs to wake.
this would become nothing more than a fragment,
a false memory made up in my head.

you started crying, telling me you were lonely here
so i promised to visit from time to time.
i intend to keep every word i said
if only i could steer a slumbering ship to your shore.