ELEPHANTS IN DAYLIGHT

Roland Labonte

---

Daylight moves carefully across a bedroom floor.
Sounds of coughing engines,
Coughing people,
And rowdy birds.
--I know what stirs beyond.
     Beyond my window,
     Beyond my thought,
And beyond my time.
The world alights,
And I with it.

Disconnect bedclothes from body,
And it’s cold.
The air is thick,
Difficult to move in,
--Like running under water.
     Under weight.
     Under crisp snapping of joints.
​
Goosebump skin as I’m sliding.
--Sliding along elephants aplenty.
     Elephants that dot my chamber walls.
     Elephants that permeate my thoughts.

Watch me lumber now; A gate as quirky as the dills!
But, if there’s grace in aversion,
then we must first be blinded before we may see.
Indeed, daylight moves carefully across a bedroom floor.
     --But not as carefully as me.