RETURN TO REALITY

A dawn wakes me
from my sleep
showing me his covenant
from a deep first light sun,

I'm already on my knees
on the Oriental rug

reciting Psalm ninety one

as orange and red leaves fall
over my lawn
outside the Cape window

from veiled Elm tree shadows

preparing for snow showers

on this breezy jazz Monday
Bach's  cantata
consoles me
and after I play my sax riffs
on these early cool hours

as Edith my neighbor is relaxing
on vast sheets by my cat

hovering over
my cabin fevered bed
knitting me a woolen sweater

telling her I'm planning to go 

cross country skiing in vacation
this coming starry winter
thriving in the cleft of woods
of a far mountain area
somewhere in Canada's hinterland
sharing my professor's letters
of praise of my lectures with her

which I left at my aunt's house
in Montpelier Vermont

after my last college reading

of a vast poetry collection
now housed in the library.