Dreaming

I curl up like a shell
play possum to the world
before I rise.
I enjoy the possibility
of strange and impossible creatures.
Is it safe to touch them?
Do they have common colorings?
Green, gold, brown, black
is its short greasy fur.
No, not common at all...
Does it have teeth
with which it can bite me?
I say no
and so it is.
It opens its tight, dark little mouth,
one I couldn't even see before
and licks me like a dog.
It is ignorant
benign
harmless.
It is my friend.
I say so.

I wake up
but I do not rise.
I play possum to the world
dead as a seashell
invisible as markings
silent in sand, so warm
but still dead
to the possibility
of strange
and impossible
creatures.