INVISIBLE LOGIC (villanelle)

In the canals of Amsterdam, dreams of wild swans
shatter the slow language of reflected edifices.
Invisible feet push the darkness toward the light.

I am caught between what I know to be true
and the existence of parallel lives afloat
in the canals of Amsterdam, dreams of wild swans.

What if we were living inside the dream
and time was a concept waiting to be born with
invisible feet to push the darkness toward the light?

What if you were dreaming me into being
inventing time to swim us through the canals
of Amsterdam in the dreams of wild swans?

What if the feathers loosened from sleep
drifted down from the moon’s edge with invisible feet
to push the darkness back toward the light?

And the beauty if it is we cannot prove whether or not we exist
in the Cartesian streets where the sound of bells takes flight
across the canals of Amsterdam and the dreams of wild swans
are invisible wings to push the darkness toward the night.



© Maureen Hurley, Spring 1993