Empirical Dawn (Purl of Reason)

I used to live as if in a dream—
if such a thing
can be called living.

My mind and my heart were
surrounded
by a blinding night.
Fleeting visions came and went
and morphed
and faded into fantasies.
Ephemeral sounds washed
through my ears
and stained my tongue
a sickening yellow.
My steps fell away
from beneath my knees.
The golden yarn connected all
but broke apart,
reconnected,
unraveled;
tangled and unleavened,
hanging from the ceiling.
Unwearable.

In my sleep,
I tossed and turned
with a stomachache,
then the hazy twilight
melted into dawn.

The sun rose from below
the horizon,
and it lit the yellow
walls a deep blood red.
It shone through my closed eyes;
I squinted at the light—a moment—
but only until
I felt the warmth
on my face:
on my eyes, my ears, my lips;
on my feet and hands.
I opened my pupil and white
to the light.
I turned and set my feet
on solid ground.

I took the red yarn
waiting patiently next to me,
and I cast on anew.
I sat in the bright sunrise
and wove my new skin
red and warm
to keep me
against cold dandelion.

Jessica Onion

2012