Unfamiliar voices
discussed the weather
in a severely scripted way.
Their unnatural laughter
and forced jokes
scratched the surface
of my eardrums.
I recoiled beneath
my sleeping blankets,
hoping against hope
that the strangers would
stop their noise.
I had dreamt again
of the yellow-orange sun
caressing my cheeks,
and the songbirds
playing their music
for me to hear.
In my sleep,
I had walked
in the dew of a glen
and felt the cool
of an oak tree’s shade.
And now,
as sunlight is shut out
like the devil himself,
I must be content
with the blue eerie glow
from my TV set.
