“Make note of your dreams,” she had said,

But nights passed and none came.

“A notepad and pen kept by the bed

Will spark your memory’s claim.

(Why were no dreams trundling through my nights?)

And then a dream of a circus train:

What message, what clue

Do animals in cages on wheels offer this anguished brain?

A single car veering left – and it was through.

          (Is truth somehow revealed at night?)

One car of four… what could it mean?

A nano-second view and then gone from sight;

Lions and tigers and bears for an instant seen -

Do they suggest some deep psychiatric blight?

          (Or was it the box of Animal Crackers I ate last night?)