I awaken to the alarm
but quickly fell back asleep...
in the dream I'm traveling home -
wherever that was -
and something happens...
I'm alone, stranded somewhere -
alone and scared.
The sound of knocking -
just a bad dream.
My cheeks are still burning.
Is it the fever?
Is this an illusion?
A dream?
This is that reality - that experience -
when dreams and reality overlap,
commingle and confuse.
How do I know this
while dreaming?
There follows a sense of danger...
someone is in this dark house.
I feel a shiver
as I look and see something...
someone in the doorway of my room.
I must wake up, clear my mind,
be certain that it is just part of a dream.
The bedroom door then
seems to fade away -
farther and farther away.
"Get up!"
Did I say that?
Someone is coming at me...
the alarm - far away.
Finally the scene snaps back
toward clarity...
the room is empty - quiet -
clearly no one is there...
no one is in the room.
The scene is now clear.
Still as if uncertain, as if
I had to find out for sure,
confirm that there is no danger,
that all is really safe,
I'm drawn back into that dream...
because it seems so real.
I thought for sure I had awakened,
just moments ago,
but it was just another illusion.