Bittersweet Dreams

My recent dreams
Are not of
A Christmas
White with snow.
Nor are they filled
With sugarplums
Dancin' in my head.
I do not drift
In wonderlands
Filled with costly things
As I sleep
As I dream.
My dreams instead
Take me back
To an easier time
Simpler place.
An old log house
Shotgun kitchen
Mice runnin' in the walls.
The sound of Aunts
Through walls and doors
Movin', cookin', talkin' low
The smell of coffee
Boiled strong an' black
Biscuits light as air
Hand cut bacon
Piles of eggs
Preserves sweet an' thick.
These dreams take me back
An' as I sleep
Tears fall on my face.
For even as I sleep
I know
This is a place,
A time
A memory
Where I can no longer go.