Kerplunk!

Kerplunk!

Back on Earth.

About 4am
is when I come back
into my body.
Perhaps it is my breathing
which first signals my return
and alerts my little dog Simon
that it's time to get up.

I hear Simon drop -
kerplunk! to the floor.
Then I summon the will
to stand and dress
before we must venture
out into the darkness.

Neither of us asks
where the other has been
since our sleepy departure
early last night.

Though Simon and I
often inhabit different worlds,
before we close our eyes,
we agree to meet in this one
early every morning.

---

How can you prove whether
at this moment we are sleeping,
and all our thoughts are a dream;
or whether we are awake,
and talking to one another
in the waking state?
~ Plato