When I opened the door, she didn’t hesitate as usual,
but bolted right out. I followed her into the dark and
windy Autumn night, dressed only in my underwear.

Much to our mutual bewilderment, it seems that
we’d wandered into another time, another place.
Spreading out in all directions around us now
was a lush though utterly unfamiliar jungle.

The ambient air was oppressively hot and humid,
while the sounds and squeals emanating intermittently
from the dense and drippy foliage spooked both of us.

Only thin shafts of moonlight filtered through the canopy.
When we turned around, we noticed that, where our house
had been, a small makeshift grass and mud hut now stood.

We were intrigued but wary, and yet, because it strangely
seemed to beckon us, we set aside our hesitations.

What from the outside appeared to be a modest one-room
dwelling, now was more like a spacious formal parlor
to a sprawling royal mansion, filled with odd and yet
compelling signs and glowing symbols which decorated
the immaculate white walls of the endless winding halls.

I lifted the little dog into my arms and made my way
to one of the large round windows, shaped in the form
of an immense ocean liner port hole. It was just in time
to view the wide rings of Saturn as we went speeding by.