The shades are shut but my eyes are open
and I see clearly, lucid
like the shifting water that races below me.
Far up in the wispy clouds, I veer left
and then right, moving with the cool air
that exhilarates me, along with the feeling
of flying, soaring the sky and
drifting freely in sunshine.
I dive down towards the deeper blues,
until only inches from the oscillating surface
I pull up and
glide happily
for a few moments.

A beeping sound brings my back.
Jostled,
I take in my true surroundings:
a small room, well lit with
white light that reflects off a tiled floor and
continues out to the hallway through the open door.
I lie angled, enveloped in ghostly sheets
for too long, I feel pale and
gazing around at the unappealing ambiance
sickens me further,
so I shut my eyes.

A familiar face
enters the room,
a visitor, friend,
but I do not wish to talk.
He sits close to me and the bed,
and immediately his presence sparks
annoyance
as he speaks incessantly,
quickly, with hardly any space
between his phrases.
I perceive the sound,
but foggily forget to decipher the meaning
of his simple sentences
because I’m hazed,
dozing off, except that
his noises are piercing my tender perception
so I summon strength and
my mouth slowly opens to speak
its first words since his arrival,
but the tone of the foremost syllable
startles me, and my eyes snap open to see
the same, somber room, devoid of anyone but me
and my muddled mind.