Dreams: A Darwinian View

Before December had been named,
Or wolves or fire been well tamed,
When Man was but a shivering ape
Caught by the glaciers with no escape,
The snowbound nights, and days, as well,
Were a veritable hell,
And of the trials he had to bear
The worst were time and dread and care.
He could not simply hibernate:
Each dawn he had to wake, and wait
Through all the hours of a day
That wishing could not wish away --
And so he dreamt, and in his dreams,
Abolished is, invented seems.
He passed the time, and time passed by,
And so may you, and so shall I.

-- Tom Disch