Dreams of Reality Dreams of Dreams

Last night, I experienced the most poignant and vivid dream I have ever had.  I woke thinking, just for a moment, I had fallen asleep and entered dreamland.  I was a bird.  I couldn't tell what I looked like, but I knew I wasn't a big majestic bird.  I was a pretty small one.  But that didn't bother me.  I was soaring through the sky.  I have always wanted to fly, but this was nothing like my imagination.  It took energy and work.  It was similar to walking, it wasn't hard, but it wasn't effortless.

I looked down and around, but it was different, difficult, my peripheral vision was not the same.  But it was worth the challenge as what laid below me was breathtaking.  I felt like I had entered a world of JRR Tolkien. Tall pines, greener than green covered the land below.  I remember flying over a lake and following a river.  All the colors were more intense than normal.  The smell: fresh, clean, nature.  The sounds - peace.  As I flew - free.

As I continued forward, the spring lands turned to fall.  The green faded to be replaced by reds, browns, oranges, and yellows.  The air became more sharp.  And, if possible, I fell more deeply in love with the land.

Fall made way for winter.  The multitude of colors became a duo-tone video.  White as far as the eye could see with patches of evergreen below.  Silence greeted me and wrapped me in its cold embrace. And in the distance horizon, I saw a snow covered mountain range.  In the middle stood one mountain, ruler over them all. Towering over them, it proclaimed his superiority.

I knew not how I knew, there was were I was headed.  As I approached, one second I would see a face carved in to the mountain, looking at me pensively.  The next stood a kingdom chiseled into the rocks.  And then, just as I figured I knew what I beheld, nothing but a ancient mountain loomed before me.  Cycling through it went as I flew ever nearer.

Snow began to fall - light, wet, like a lover's kisses when they first wake up and greet you in the morning.  And then more passionately it fell.  I began to worry as the snow turned from gentle kisses to rough clasps.  Soon the blizzard came, and I knew I was close, oh so close, but all I could see was white before me.  I was gripped, squeezed, restrained and yet I continued forward towards my goal.

And then, like the sudden jolt you get when the power goes out, I was inside a large pavilion.  I came to a stand still and looped around.  The scene behind me was of a peaceful snow covered forest.  Gone was the storm I had battled.  A sound, to my side, caught my attention and I started.  "We have been waiting for you, Lady," spoke an old man I could only describe as Merlin, robes and all.  And quick as that, I was grabbed, gentle, oh so gently, and placed in a gilded cage. 

At first I was scared.  The man spoke no more, but my fear was swiftly overcome by wonder as I took in my surroundings.  I could never do them justice, so I will not even try: beautiful, opulent, classic is all I can say.  A maze of passages, we walked, as I quickly lost all sense of direction.  I enjoyed the show instead.  I wasn't aware my mind was capable of creating such splendor.

And then, in the distance, I heard the murmur of people.  Lots of people.  They grew louder as we reached a set of double doors craved with mahogany, trimmed with silver, and laced with rubies that sparkled in candle's light.

The doors opened of their own accord and a hush developed.  I tried to huddle in my cage but found the roundness not cooperating.  I was suddenly nervous as each pair of eyes was focused on me.  Hundreds of them.

The man was slowly heading down an aisle that divided the people into two groups.  I vaguely was aware of a throne sitting at the end of this journey but was too fixated on the people glaring at me.  But, my attention was soon turned elsewhere when the man sat my cage upon the throne and opened the door.  He stepped back without turning his back to me.  Ten feet away, he bowed, "Lady," as if beckoning me.

I hopped, once, twice.  I exited.  Spreading my tiny wings I attempted to fly high, but I only got so far before a pain choked me.  I felt like my whole mass was being shoved into a infantile sphere.  And then I exploded.  I was no longer a bird but myself.  No, that isn't right. I was myself but not myself.  I felt like I had a thin film, that had always coated my body, disappear.  I was me as I was.  I was me as I always should have been.  I was me as I will be.

Naked, my feet sunk to the ground.  As my bare soles touched the cold stone floor, I wanted to run and cover myself.  I wanted to hide from all those eyes glazing at me.  But something whispered, "Don't".  And like dominos, the crowd started to kneel before me, starting with the old man who had carried me here.  I swore, I could just make out a smile on his face as he proclaimed to me, "Welcome home, Lady."

And then I awoke.  Last night, I experienced the most poignant and vivid dream I have ever had.  I woke thinking, just for a moment, I had fallen asleep and entered dreamland.