Awakening

I'm never sure when I'm asleep,
Because my dreams seem real.
Though every thing and person change,
I cannot question what I feel.

But all my fancies fly away
When I awake, and know I woke.
I have no doubt I was asleep,
Though I recall what I did and spoke.

I rarely know when I am sick,
Unless I'm very sick indeed.
A little tired, a little sore,
A little dull—I pay no heed.

But when I'm well, I am so well
I scarce can help but laugh out loud!
My thoughts are swift, my step is light;
My back is straight, my head unbowed.

There is a cloud that falls on me,
Little by little, and lasts for years.
It steals ambition and blunts the point
Of life, and work, and even love.

Today I woke, and knew I woke.
Today I'm well, and know my wealth.
Today the cloud has blown away,
And I look around with open eyes.

Oh, may this clarity endure,
So I can build my life anew!
Let blaze the light, that I might be
A lion, not a sleeping hound.

Let every brazen searchlight noon
Burn through the shadows on my mind.
Let every day, with clanging strokes,
Make sharp the metal of my soul!

—Calafia
a.d. 7 Kal. Ian., 2762 A.U.C.
(December 26, 2009 A.D.)