If you step out of your thoughts for a moment

and look closely as the darkness yawns

and stretches into morning,

its pink whisper growing into an orange roar,

you will see another world.

Clouds become sturdy canyon walls

and rugged mountains,

surrounding sky-colored rivers and lakes.

*

Envy the birds who cross back and forth

between landscapes

with each flap of their wings,

and wonder

who

you would be in that other world,

how it would feel

to swim in the sky and climb around clouds,

what

would make you want to come back.

to this world you know now.