3:00 A.M.

Waking from the deep last night
Ocean rising sound around
Momentarily I fight
Tides and eddies--dreams abound
Water turned to swish and roars
Street sweeper is going by
Second of clear thought passed then soars
Off like flying fish to skies
Blinding white, they gasp for air
Out of element, confused
Unnatural and peculiar
Clock blinks at my face bemused
"Three o'clock" in lights of red
Can't be real to be awake
Bed like some dry riverbed
On which fear my body shakes
Window brings the rush again
Flip-flop disquiet fills my soul
Waves' crash near my head begin
Brush on concrete sounds the call
Flailing in desperation
Arm then drops, I lose control
Plunge headfirst, the conflagration
Over, dreams flood 'round my soul
Stillness, quiet, dark abyss
Slowly I begin to see
Flying, rather, swimming, bliss
Surrounds the mermaid me