A Dream Apart
Contemplations #4
A Dream Apart
I dream beneath a moonlit night,
The air is thin, earth wrapped pale within its light.
Behind my eyelids, folding many years,
As distant bells give voice to fallen tears,
For mem’ries sweet of sorrow, one I knew,
Wishing now to see how loved yet grew.
Moonlight pours upon this in between,
I see her near the brook where poplars lean,
Her face half shown beneath the silver gleam.
It’s her. This soul that’s wandering my dreams.
Her eyes met mine, expectant, calm and mild,
A joy as deep as when a child has smiled.
For she I knew beyond mere memory,
A life long shared in bond. “Is this my Valerie?”
For each dawn I walk the path where once she trod,
To the place she lies now deep beneath the sod.
And leave fresh flowers though none may come to see,
And speak her name, though no reply to me.
Her chair remains, untouched beside the fire,
The book she read, left where she chose it to retire.
Yet now. She stands before me, pale and fair,
I kneel, half-blind with grief, half in prayer,
My sorrow drops as linen at her feet.
And begged this dream to make her heartbeat sweet.
I cried, “Return, if Heaven grants release,
Come walk once more with me, we’ll find peace!”
Then broke her voice. As faint as falling rain,
“In vain your tears of memory and pain,”
Trembling soft, drifting through the shade.
“The prayers I wish you speak are what I’ve prayed.
For I go on, alive where none may speak,
My heart remembers all, but only this do I now seek,
From this realm where silence pleads and time seems still.
And wait for love to wake me to the Father’s will.
All I’ve left, my voice, my frame,
You weep for ashes, whispering my name,
The rest remains, though veiled in sorrow’s hue.
Yet I, who burn in peace, remember you.”
“Your grief is kind, but kindest yet would be,
A prayer that breaks the chains you do not see.
I hunger only for the roses on the ground,
When those who pass offer an Ave that they’ve found.
Not for songs that praise the beauty that has fled,
Lest it be a whispered plea for light among the dead.”
“The earthen depths. The grave. You think not sleep?
You mourn my loss and through your sorrow weep.
But those within still ache for Heaven’s dawn,
We lay so close but still, and motionless we fawn.”
“When mem’ry finds me again near to your side,
Say a prayer that I ascend, and in Heaven may reside.
And there a prayer I’ll send down unto you.
That you may come and be with me there too.”
Her eyes grew clear, like morning breaking slow,
I reached to her, and wished not bid her go,
And time stood hushed around that gentle flame.
The dream dissolved, yet left her voice, her name.
And now when mem’ries tender mild refrain,
Of ghosts beneath that now lie docile yet in pain.
A rose I leave instead by Heaven’s gate,
For the souls that lay now still, in silent wait.
Very well done!
Beautiful. 🌹