Four Times Gone

Call it what you want — an illusion
Some departure of the mind
You can say I’m suffering from delusions
But I say that I tapped the line
I was standing in some other country
Outside this century
I looked at my watch and it was stopped at
925 a. d
I was One, Two, Three
Four times gone
Vague shapes took form that night
There were girls with dangling earrings on
Standing outside of brightly lighted places
And they spoke to me in the hours before the dawn
They said, «Where you laugh others have laughed
Where you cry others have cried
And where we sleep you will sleep some day
Across the Great Divide»
And they gathered 'round and shouted out
«What are you doing here?»
I said, «I don’t know, I’m not sure
I haven’t got a clue»
And right then they disappeared
I guess that’s all there was to it
A glimpse, an impression — nothing more
Then I put my hand right through it
And I was once again this side of the Door