I woke up
screaming without
noise, swelled awake, shaking
the heat of dying suns loose from
my bones, the whole world
aching with that fevered dream. thousands
high, the engines roaring, I clawed away
the funeral shroud (my coat), gasped for
air (filtered, from above), sweated,
stumbled, reached for help (sleeping).

Thousands high, murmur, echo,
shifting souls, cross-continental. eke out
dreams and passing sleeping, pills in gullet,
turning, churning.

Across the front, a shimmer, shiver,
fear where none has been before. trapped and
falling (flying), freaking, immobile dolls
too mobile plane.

Silent, still, if shaking, quiet,
wardens pass in mood-lit aisles. perhaps
could speak, perhaps could break this,
frenzied dreaming, world is
spinning.

Then sip the juice and fall, uneasy,
back to slumber, beneath your number.
Above, the beast is soaring, shaking,
Hours left before the dawn.