poem
Side Eye
11 March 2026
I sit on the staircase, a notebook in hand
Ten steps away from where dreams softly stand
The air is still, the sunlight slow
I wait for a thought, for a verse to grow Before me he lies, a whitish-furred guard
His body at ease, though the ground is hard
His chest rises steady, his eyelids fall
Yet nothing escapes him — he senses it all From the corner of sight, his eye softly turns
A flicker of knowing, where half-sleep burns
He does not stir, he does not flee
But quietly tells me: I’ve noticed thee I pause with a smile, the silence is kind
A strange little bond forms, unspoken, in mind
Perhaps, I think, this is reason enough
To let my pen wander, to sketch him in rough So I write of the sleeper, the dreamer, the guide
Whose watch never ends, though he slumbers beside
A sentinel spirit, with senses so true
Half in his world, yet aware of mine too And there on the staircase, two lives align
One shaping words, the other reclines
A poem is born, from a glance in the day
Of a dog half-asleep, and a thought on its way