Prophecy: Snow White

I keep everything
you have ever said to me
in a cloisonné egg by my bed.

I want to show you the broken face
of the moon on the river's back
but we are only visible to each other
during the day. This is where I see
the lips opening and opening again.

You tell me your dream, the litany
of wild frogs and ask me to interpret.
Look for the skull of a deer in your morning.
I see a chamomile light between the open mouth
of the skull and the heart set aside, which gleams
like a second prize.

If you dream that two tiny whales are kept
in a small aquarium on your dresser, then you miss
your mother.
If you dream of tangled hair, you will be unfaithful.
If there is a sandy beach in the dream,
the stranger you want to kiss in the car
will taste like chocolate.

Sometimes I think that dying must be like falling
or the reinvention of dust caught in this light.

I can't tell you what I know.
The evidence is in my sleep.

Copyright © 2006 Donna Prinzmetal All rights reserved
from The Journal
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission