Fever Dreams

Fever Dreams

by Mandy Doerr

The summer air sticks to me,
As the locusts scream,
From trees thick with leaves,
Inspiring feverish dreams.

My vision of reality fades,
And I see hot, white sand,
Through a distorted maze,
I shade my eyes with a hand.

As I walk through the heat,
My body burns itself clean,
Turning me into a bare sheet-
A pure living being.

Soon, movement seems unreal.
I stare at the royal blue sky,
Wondering at this thing I feel,
Burning into my soul's eye.

I melt onto the scorching plain,
Spreading myself thin in the heat,
And visions, wild and strange,
Open their arms as consciousness retreats.

I awake, no longer a being of air and fire,
But once more in my body of water and earth.
Yet, to recall those rare visions, I desire-
For I sensed something I'd forgotten in birth.

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