OF THE RECORDATION OF DREAMS
          

And when with a start the dream was exposed
in the wide expanse of the room of slumber
he knew that he must convert its action into words
with speed and exacting detail,
and, once verbally transcribed, repeated again
and again to solidify it in memory and overcome
the rapidly receding imagery of the oneiric state,
repetition upon repetition even when he longed
to be free of the boring recitation,
to lounge in the joy of the idyll of awakening.

And when as he rose and attended to his first ablutions.
foraged for food and settled down at last,
writing the words on paper with unfocused eyes,
then he saw the dream transcribed
into the text of a permanent record
in words bunched on the page.
And only then was he assured
that the substance of the dream was preserved
to serve the purpose of the cogency of the day.