No Dream That You Could Take

Like some kind of creature that opens
At a touch, unfurls, then closes up,

Only to show you, if you’re watching
Alertly enough, nothing’s enough,

You had a day you could not reduce—
The plan, to make the most of nothing

Went off the rails when nothing itself
Got involved. The ratios altered.

You sat, and dozed, and jolted awake,
But dreamed no dream that you could take.

Mostly, you weren’t. Meanwhile, the day was,
So that later, in the greying light,

You could feel cheated. You had nothing
To show yourself in memory—time

Took its opportunity with it.
But wasn’t this it? More gone with it.

The day, it turns, could not be reduced.
The thoughts were as compact as they seemed.