Almost As Happy

The sun, the light, Brazilian warmth, the sand
To softly surging sea, a hotel room
With wife and children there and no demand
Beyond the conference where I assume

My place among the experts who are there
To speak on economic liberty.
I get to listen and I get to share
Ideas and truth and possibility.

I spend my evenings with my children, wife –
Brazilian beef and deep-fried yucca roots
For dinner, music twists the air, a life
I wanted, so I nurtured each green shoot.

And I am on the radio, a talk
Show interview on liberty and I
Am taking calls and do not ever balk
At even the insulting questions. Why . . .

I wake, disoriented. Was it real,
Or this hard life of evening naps before
I’m off to work at night? Life will reveal
Itself in Dallas consciousness I wore

Before I went to bed. I wake up to
The same beloved family and the
Same hopes and dreams, but the wrong life. Undo
This curse, let me redream reality.