My Dream is to Wake Up

My dream is to wake up with nobody else in the house
except me
and the light switches which go on and off at my bidding
and the toaster which toasts when I need it to, for my delight
and does not require keeping quiet while it sleeps
or feeding it, or taking it to the toilet.
None of these things are required by nobody else.

If there is nobody else in the house
I can have a bath, run it and get into it without any lifting,
without the taking off of clothes, other than my own, which I do without thinking
and I can sit there without washing anybody’s feet, other than my own
which is, exactly, a pleasure.
And when I get out of the bath, with nobody else in the house,
I find that the blinds do not talk back to me when I open and shut them
Indeed,
They sit at exactly the precise angle I require of them, without complaining!
And the table too, supports my cup and these hands all on its own,
The very task I require of it, without any murmur it all.
I don’t even have to ask.

Oh the joy of a house inhabited by nobody else,
An empty house, just me and the things I need,
Things that in this moment exist only for me.

Whole worlds could exist, whole other lives could be begun and carried out completely
Here, in all this space, with so much time
And oh the quiet – can you hear it?