Trains and Solving Machines

Now that I work in a fancy office building

Entrenched in the bustle of downtown Chicago,

My surroundings have turned into shades of

gray

black

and blue.

 

I sit in a beige cubicle, pushing buttons like a drone

at a keyboard

(taptaptap)

Somehow a small part of the nation’s economy

Revolves on the work of these

busy

wiggling

fingers.

 

My life now moves like clockwork.

Days pass like grains of sand

Slipping through my poorly cupped hands.

These days I dream vividly

Of trains, clouds, and solving machines.

I see things in sleep that rival the greatest

stories ever told.

 

When I wake, bright colors drain away

before

my eyes

And my heart grasps wildly for that

sense of

freedom

 

Until that too fades

Into the silence of my bedroom.

Every morning I brush my teeth

While I forget what it feels like

To be untethered

In sweet

warm

sleep.