Saturday, March 24, 2018

Where do Dreams Go When They Die?



Where do dreams go
when they float out of your body
in the bright of day
when you’re least suspecting
betrayal? Or in the middle of the night when you wake up feeling lost—
somewhat adrift in the false sanctuary 
of a warm duvet. Where did they go? 



There are no tearful goodbyes 
when dreams 
sneak out the back door, no
whispered regrets or half-said gripes
only the bewilderment of lost socks,
missed buses and tired
lunches.

Where do dreams go?

It’s hard when you don’t know where they’ve gone or even if they've gone. What if they return when you’re not home? They might slide back under the door or slip through the open window… creep out from under the pile of papers you’ve been meaning to file or the pile of crumbs at the bottom of the toaster. What if they just got lost? So you keep to your rituals, turn the porch light on and water the plants hoping,

hoping it was a mistake, they are just teasing or repaying you back for some

slight you made when you didn’t know better. But

dreams are not like that. When they leave
they are gone.  They don’t care

about the gaping wounds
of a pierced heart, the emptiness
of longing and the pitying stares of those
who have (they say)
worked harder, shone brighter, taken 
a different path, they don’t look back 
to comfort confused souls
quivering in disbelief

they just go
to wherever they go
and are gone

leaving you to rise again
with the dust left behind
under the pillow.