(image credit: bjman.deviantart.com)

I find myself in an unknown land
sleep walking
body in a trance
talons of comprehension
have loosened their grasp
taken flight

People smile quarter moon smiles
kindness evident in soft brown eyes
best human qualities on display
but no matter how hard I try
the exotic lilting language
remains foreign to me
estranged

I am learning this milieu
through faculties long dormant
acquiring trust in my senses

Sight allows a glimpse of this new world
garbled symbols join movement, color, style, rhythm
a patchwork concept that taunts
hanging just beyond perception

I smell loneliness, hunger, happiness, JOY

The environment tastes purple
unusual
tantalizing
inviting
Although not mute
my tongue feels twisted
articulation a lost art
formation of sound demands effort
conscious awareness

My ears delight in the musical litany I hear
long for when my own body does not betray
with crass sounds
indelicate and rude
but can join the melodic refrain
lovely angelic chorus
of those that surround me