The Dreamer, Awakened
(adapted as lyrics for music in a collaboration with composer Shirley Warren for the group, Madera Vox.  The piece premiered in a concert given by Madera Vox on 3/4/14, at SUNY - New Paltz.) 

The dreamer, awakened, shall dawn unto dreams, 
Where visions persist and vague senses transcend;
By affect of specters and fleet fading scenes;
All trace of his waking, till sleep falls again.

When curtains arise, what pen authors our plays?
The stage, as unveiled in that instant of time?
Or does the tale live in its own dreamt-of days,
By footlights inflamed from the dark of the mind?

The dreamer, awakened, shall dawn on unrest,
Not knowing dusk's sunrise from sunset's new light,
And all truth on earth to which we may attest,
Is drawn from two dreams half obscured from our sight.