"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books."
-Thomas Carlyle

by Paul Lytle

     I went to the mall and bought a birthday gift —
a stuffed Cheshire Cat — for Lana, though
I doubted she will choose by then to lift

our wall of silence, forgive me all the woes
I caused her. Still I bought the cat and steered
myself around and then to lunch did go.

I left the bag, sensing nothing queer,
alone while I refilled my drink. When I
returned, the Cheshire Cat had disappeared.

     Is love just like the Magic that will die
as soon as we do wake? For as I sat
at lunch, I knew the dream was gone — but why?

There always comes a fight, an anger, that
will make it fade, just like the Cheshire Cat.