Refuge Poem by Jan Sand

There is in dreams a magic transformation
So that fear appears as watching doors,
A clutching claw a hair behind your frantic run,
Frozen feet that push through viscous air,
Or something simple, like a painted square
Upon the sidewalk of a painted city.

In dreams there can be crystal cliffs
That glint within with fields of flowers,
Birds and insects captured in rock glass.
Time and Space are stilled in rocky depth.
Stars no longer compass ‘round the north
But strew like sugar on a kitchen table.

I’ve had dreams that swirl and drown in love.
Some girl I could not see, but know
By how I felt. She was a vacancy, a blank
Defined by feelings strong outlined
That flowed in me like buttered honeymilk.
Thus I spun in weightless space, in love.

In sleep the human mind falls into disarray.
No floors, no ceilings capturing the beast of feeling,
Wild to play strong games gone mad.
We free ourselves to flee through mazes
Sown with pleasures and with pain.
At night we all go wearily insane.