Poem ~ All that matters

Last night I dreamt myself into a poetry readingbefore an audience of hundreds – outdoors,sunshine, cheers and applause before I’d read a single word and a quickening around my heart that carried both anxiety and excitement as I leafed through the books in my hands trying to find the marked pages, the poems I’d already chosenbut knowing at the same time all that matterednow would be the choices I'd make in that momentand the next. And I looked up. I smiled. I spoke.