There is a missing boy
I knew him years ago
His picture drenches the socials
His family pleads

It's been about a fortnight
His story on the news
Disappeared under suspicious circumstances
Search parties gather

His ID, found along the highway
The apartment showed signs of struggle
His pictures plaster
This boy is loved

1 person of interest, at large
1 ex in custody, questioned
Watching from the shadows
I'm largely unaffected
vaguely sad

Until this morning
Lost boy

You walked down the bookstore aisle
Behind your Aunt
From the history section to YA
Leaning on crutches and grinning warmth
You were younger, the boy I recall

We embraced, I told you how glad I was you were safe, you were home
Rejoice
I can tell the immediate world to call off the search
So much relief I felt, all was well again on this crazy planet

...then I woke up.

I long to tell your sister, your mom, all your friends, the countless volunteers who have shared photos, posts, walked the streets & forests
Searching for you

About the way my dreams come true
Not all
But certain ones are somehow realer than reality itself
A premonition
You come home

But in the twilight mists between wake and slumber
I keep these thoughts to myself
No happy alarm bells ring out
Because my sight is only Astral
Fleeting
A glimpse of other worlds I inhabit
Briefly, before I'm torn back

I don't tell a soul about my good symbolic omen of the missing boy


Because I know that sometimes
in my dreams
I also walk
with the dead