End of Winter Sestina

a waking dream

I woke up this morning to find not one sock
That matched a single other sock. So my left foot
Sported a white athletic one, striped in loveliness,
And my right foot a black one from deep in the dresser.
I put on underwear and pants and looked in the mirror, 
Then a shirt and finally some shoes suitable for a run.

I did a dance as the coffee machine began to run
And when I took my first big slug it gave me a sock
In the brain with a caffeine punch that cracked my mirror
From top to bottom, from head to foot,
But the crack filled with gold from deep in the dresser
Creating a vision of wabi-sabi loveliness.

A beautiful day awaited me, and the loveliness
Of the sunrise greeted me as I prepared for my run.
There was just one more item from deep in the dresser
That I’d need to complete my look: another sock
To use as a headband, not to put on a foot.
I chose an orange one and again checked the mirror.

“Behold,” said I, “a cracked man in a mirror.”
And then I thought of your lovely loveliness
And imagined the smoothness of your naked foot
As I stepped out into the light to begin my run.
Looking down at my own feet I enjoyed how the striped sock
Mismatched the eight-ball black one from deep in the dresser.

From deep in the dresser, I say, from deep in the dresser,
Where Adam stored the dreams from Eve’s mirror,
Where mysteries lurk and a portal takes one sock
After another transported in singular loveliness,
To where many mythic meanderings and musings run
Down rabbit holes when the game is afoot.

But there I was at the threshold about to step foot
Onto the street when I felt as though deep in the dresser
The sky’s sunrise colors began to run
Together and the river like a magic mirror
Reflected it back into a gigantic loveliness 
That ruffled in the breeze like a majestic windsock. 

The happiness of my foot stepped forth in that black sock
From deep in the dresser and from there the loveliness
Of life made me run—to you and away from my mirror.

---

---