Sleeping in a Freshly Painted Room

for Mildred Gaston

within the valley
of your sleep

you visit a grey wooden house
that never changes

behind a black iron fence
on a pasture's slope
little else is nearby
though there must be

a neighbor
up the hill

since there's always
music

no matter how many
times
dreams bring you
there's always music

some distant
scratchy recording

maybe a 78