HUGH AND ME

Last night, sick as a dog,
I had a dream.
A strange office.
To get to higher levels,
an escalator
we women refused to use,
because, after level one,
we'd need to scramble up,
like monkeys climbing trees,
there being no treads above,
and no ground below.
And so downstairs
we worked each day, and
cheered each other on,
generally, mutually supportive.
Avoiding that damned escalator.
Signs and sense of change,
upheaval and disrootedness.
Late one evening,
a strange, brilliant and
slightly mad young man entered.
Hi, he said, come, come with me.
It was Hugh Grant. Hugh Grant!
Come to help me up. Would I follow? Yes.
He ran ahead, sprinting quickly,
sometimes leaping
over others, and reached the other side.
Another escalator,
a working escalator!
He ran up the first track two treads at once
and I followed,
and climbed the second track, as well.
Ahead, he turned, and smiled at me
as he made for the third.
My thought, while running:
What a charming (slightly mad, but oh so brilliant) man!
But, dismayed by the smile, a bit,
I slowed, a bit.
The third track, frozen, faced us.
And up he ran.
Up I marched, not as strong as he.
I could not run,
my breath was lost on lower, moving tracks.
Gracious, he waited
by the fourth,
which filled my soul with strength.
The fourth track moved, but had no treads,
was just a moving bannister.
From up above, he waved me on.
I had to leap
with all my mind and spirit,
and balance precariously
upon that moving rail, sideways,
hold my breath and keep my head,
and as it moved, I crowed to find
my strength and balance good.
And what was there at the top?
Why, nothing much. Incompleteness,
broken boards, a platform
open to the weathers.
He turned again, and smiling, leapt
into the lake below. I had to follow.
It was so clear that there was no way back,
and all was unpredictable ahead,
and I was trapped.
I could not stop, and had to leap.
I wanted most to honor Hugh
by matching him in courage,
although I did not know the lake.
I wanted, too,
to find Hugh Grant again.
In frigid waters, as I swam
cold and near to drowning,
I thought of losing Hugh.
The man was sweet and
more than kind to me.
Somehow I sensed his leap was right,
an act to emulate. I missed his grace and speed,
and longed to run with him again.
And then I stood upon
an outside balcony
of a city high rise office, with my son, and his friends.
He taking photos, me marvelling at what we saw.
It was early morning, very dark,
with only glimmers
of light that would appear in several hours time.
We saw unusual movement on the river, in the harbor,
boats that should be moored were moving
on the river, in strange patterns, like hounds searching out their prey.
A huge ship pulled out from shore,
snuck out from behind some smaller craft,
and nudged and slipped its way into the current.
A vulture in a field of doves.
We understood that we were seeing
something hidden
from most eyes.
We were in danger, thus.
And I awoke.

© h/m/q, Jan 2006