frank sinatra still sings me to sleep
the same way that you'd shake me from a nightmare
     it's soothing
yet somehow reminiscent of chicago's smog

i wake half-shaken
and half ready to light up a spliff
right where i sit
     wherever it is that i'm sitting
or am i standing?

and is it too demanding to ask
that you laugh
when you've got a cameo
in my drip-stained dreams?
     ****
all i'm asking for is a laugh
     anything
          really
other than a gap-mouthed gasp

that's all i ask

well
there's that
    
and...
          maybe you could show your face
          for just one or two milliseconds longer