The Cody Enterprise

WHAT A NIGHTMARE!

THE OTHER NIGHT
I FELL ASLEEP
THINKING
of the good old days
BEFORE the war
WHEN a man
COULD take a drink
WITHOUT becoming
A CRIMINAL
and
I DREAMED
THAT I was
WANDERING ALONE
In
A STRANGE CITY
And in my
Wanderings
I CAME upon a
BEAUTIFUL BUILDING
That looked as if
IT MIGHT be
A PRINCE'S PALACE
OR something
I walked in
AND FOUND myself in
A HOTEL LOBBY
And looking around
I SAW this sign
OVER A DOOR-
C-A-F-E
I ENTERED AND
FOUND a room
FULL of men
and Women
SITTING AT tables
DRINKING their
GIN FIZZES or
WHATEVER it was
AND LAUGHING
AND TALKING
AND ENJOYING
THEMSELVES.
I PASSED through
A PAIR OF
SWINGING doors
AND THERE right
BEFORE my eyes
I BEHELD
A BAR with brass
RAIL AND everything
I APPROACHED cautiously
PUT my foot on the
RAIL AND looked
INTO THE glass
and admired myself.
THEN I exchanged feet
AND SPOKE in a low
TONE TO THE
BARTENDER, who
PLACED A bottle
and glass
BEFORE ME.
I FILLED THE
GLASS with the
AMBER fluid,
HELD it to
THE light and
GAZED AT IT
LOVINGLY
FOR a moment,
RAISED IT
TO MY lips
and then
I WOKE
-Old Souk