In Two Minds

             In Two Minds

It’s three a.m. and black as pitch

when the minds in my head begin a fight

that tosses me from side to side.

The stern one dreads the day ahead,

reviews a list of pressing tasks

and resurrects embarrassment,

quick ripostes I failed to make,

anxiety for friends at risk.

My dreaming mind will show a film

whenever it can seize the chance:

troupes of actors fill the screen

in fleeting guest appearances.

The plots are often quite obscure

with little shape, beginning or end

but entertaining twists and turns;

riddling symbols come and go

before I work out what they mean.

After all, I’m here to rest.

Just when the action’s warming up

my other mind butts in:

a switch is flicked, the movie fades,

hordes of morbid moods arrive.

Exhausted by the struggle, I rise

at five to face the wait for light.

Suzanne Edgar