From “Parables”

There was a boy who dreamed
a cardboard horse of his own.
The boy opened his eyes:
he didn’t see it, though.
Again of a little white horse
the boy started to dream,
and caught it by the mane...
You won’t escape from me!
Barely having caught it,
the little boy awoke.
His fist was tightly clenched.
The little horse had flown!
The boy grew very serious
thinking there’s nothing real
about a dreamed-of horse.
And no more would he dream.
But the boy became a youth
and had a love, and spoke
to his beloved girl:
Are you real or no?
When the youth reached old age,
he thought: It’s all a dream,
the dreamed-of little horse,
likewise the horse that’s real.
And when death came to him,
to his heart the old man posed
the question: Are you a dream?
Who knows if he awoke!

–Gerald Friedman

Gerald Friedman grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, and now teaches physics and mathematics in northern New Mexico. His poetry has appeared in various magazines, and his translations from Machado have appeared in Ezra, Dialogist, RHINO and Poet Lore. You can read more of his work at https://jerryfriedman.wixsite.com/my-site-2