Boys at Bed

They set aside
their conscious minds so fast
they surely must wear masks,
with clothes dumped in a pile
they drop their days into the night.
Coming into dreams like birds
flying with dark horses
returned from where they came,
amazing wraiths.

All day they spin at speed
and yell
of tests to try themselves,
rushing from one pose
toward two,
this work they claim as theirs.

Grudgingly they yield
to bath to books to bed,
pretending unfamiliarity
with its ward,
arguing for minutes
they leave no room for sleep
then slyly with a wink
they skip
from here to there
and gone!

August 1990 – Graves Mountain Lodge