looking down across this dead end alley
to where the road disappears in shadow
I can hear a freight train rumbling
just beyond the screen of trees
this view is from a dream
where the past was present
and the future paid attention
as the dissolution of chronology
made many more things possible
than one would find in waking life
I could feel the stories in this space
as close as the warm evening air
and all those who ever walked
or rode or drove or wandered
and knew this place in their time
were there with me in the gloaming
as I watched in my drowsy revery
and we eyed each other warily
unsure which of us was real