another one for coal

I say to myself:

rise up, dreamer
and engage in the sticky realities and
preservative-free joys of this wholesome life

reach through the window to that distant smile
swim with salamanders, hands outreached below the clear water

begin something
painting in colours forgotten, landscapes yet unseen
form and undulate, glow and press
against the grain of what you thought
you wished you had

but this:
the beyond beautiful,
the bigger unknown

so much better than any fading
fragrant dream
so much better than an imagined past:

this unfolding future.