Breathing Just Beneath the Surface

That you dream, that you have to dream,
That the brain has to conduct these
Tournaments of dishevelment,
To be able to continue
With living as if in plain day,

That other animals also
Seem to need for their brains to dream,
That you can study them, twitching
And whimpering, at least when not
Locked up in dreaming of your own,

That you can’t clearly demonstrate
What the dreaming does for dreamers
Who experience and forget,
Who experience and forget,
Suggests you’re not quite awake yet.