DREAM:                                      FOR TWO

Even a single rosebud blooming

                   can seem ominous

                          on this deep in returning from Church

                                     Sunday morning thoughts

                                                of her man off at war

                                                 guns blaring through

                                                his other side of world night

                                                 face split open

                                                by a Japanese grenade

It is 1943

              she is 18

              and her unblossoming

                          petals have wilted

              and her faith in God's

                          been shattered

                                  through the deafness

                                                    of His unanswering

                                                              prayer

And she takes her coke

                           in double doses

                           and trips off nightly

                           to meet her Donald

                           on some South Pacific Island

                           where the sun is always setting

                                                                        as they walk naked

                                                                                           to the shore