Wake up!

It’s only a dream

Wake up!
Wake up!

I kicked my way gratefully
into Friday morning’s routine

Twelve hours on it seems distant and harmless
but still it turns my mood

I don’t know who the two men were
but they were real enough

Real lives

Everything to be gained or lost

I don’t know how we came to be
by the river and the hut

If I did, I forgot

I don’t know what the trouble was over

One of them was the Law
and seemed decent enough

Slim

Tall

Broad-faced with short fair hair
– a family man

He stood away from us a little on the path
and seemed to be reasoning

I stood next to the hut

Kind of side on to the other guy
and close enough to touch him

I was watching them both

The guy next to me was stocky
– bit of a rogue, but ok

We were together

They exchanged harsh words
– the tall man staying calm

I’d say he was doing his job

The rogue was losing his head
– I felt uncomfortable

Without warning he pulled out a gun

A revolver with a long black barrel
and an old wooden grip

It looked dangerous

It tensed me up

He waved the gun around for a while
as he spoke

When nothing happened
I relaxed a little
and waited to see what played out

The tall man was speaking again

To my amazement
there were two loud bangs

I wasn’t even sure it was from the gun
but I looked to the tall man and he was also amazed

His hands seemed to be
pushing something away in front of him

He stared
– his mouth moving but no words now

He walked slowly backwards onto the path
but seemed unsure where he was going
– still fending off his assailant

As I watched
he seemed to lose his strength and fall back
– carefully as if he might damage the furniture

His eyes stared with a strained expression
but he wasn’t looking at either of us

His hands clawed uselessly at an invisible enemy

All in a few moments he was lying on the ground
– pulling at his shirt and looking up at the sky

Anguish was in his face as he struggled for breath

Somehow he pulled open his shirt
to reveal light coloured hairs and two pink nipples

Over the left one two dark holes

One for each bang

They were in a low diagonal
between nipple and shoulder

His hands just fussed around his chest

Finally his mouth stopped silently working
and his hands quit fussing

He continued to gaze at the sky
but his chest and hands no longer fought

He was still

It’s only a poem

Wake up!
Wake up!

I kick my way gratefully
into Friday morning’s routine