Monday, May 9, 2011

Conversation with My Dreams

I’m in a field, sun warm on my face, stretched out on a blanket of grass, clovers and dandelions. Gazing to the heavens.


I begin the conversation with my dreams:


Me: You seem so far from me, dancing up there amidst the clouds, found in the blue layers of sky.


Dreams: I’m not so far.


A bee and dragonfly spar and flit for my attention. I turn my head for a moment and shield my eyes with my hand so I can stare again at the seahorse and sea lion clouds roaming above.


Me: Whenever I feel like you’re in my grasp, you drift on like migrating butterflies, elusive, teasing almost.


Dreams: I’m still in your grasp.


I yawn and catch the earth scents of dirt and lavender in my mouth as soon as it opens.


Me: When are you then, years away? How can that be if I’m speaking to you? If you’re answering me?


Dreams: I’m not years away.


Me: Where are you? Answer me at least that much. If I squint hard enough will I find you dangling between the layers of blue?


Dreams: No.


I snatch a dandelion from the ground, then split the stem to feel the watery inside, and smear the yellow of the weed on my fingertips.



Dreams: I’m there.


The sound of rustling leaves lures me to glance at the waving trees in every shade of green across the field.


Me: Across the field, there in the trees?


Dreams: Not there. Hold your hand up.


Me: The sun is in my eyes.


Still, I lift my hand, holding it in front of the sun.


Me: Should I point to something?


Dreams: No, look.


Me: At what?


All I see through squinty eyes is a halo of gold around the stitched, woven lines on the inside of my palm. I can also make out the swirls on the tips of my fingers, lines like I’ve seen on the inside of a tree.


Dreams: Do you see now?


A bird soars above and my heart lifts. Have I discovered the place of my dreams? Can I stop wondering when it will all come to fruition? It’s the bird in flight.


Me: The bird?


Dreams sighs, then: No. You don’t see?


Me: The only other thing in my direct vision besides the bird and the clouds and the sun and the sky is my hand. I see faint blue veins jutting out like tree branches. And lines. So many lines on it.


Dreams: You are beginning to see.


Me: Surely this isn’t you.


Dreams: Not all of me, no. Not in entirety. But it’s where I start. I’m born here. Every time you reach out to stroke your daughter’s cheek or tickle your husband’s side, every moment you press me down to make a word, every time you extend a part of yourself to pass love onto another…that is my inception.


I bring my fingers under my nose and inhale the yellow scent of dandelion.


Me: All this time I thought you were somewhere out there. Something to be reached, accomplished, grasped.


Dreams: And I was part of you all along.


I smile. Then I stand and look down at where my body pressed the grass down. I watch as a blade rises like the small hand on a clock moving from ten to twelve. Moving to point to the sky.


I peer at my hands.


Me: Part of me. Here. Now.

What would your dreams say to you?



*photos by flickr

17 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Wendy. 100% beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is pure lovely, Wendy.

    I'd like to think my exchange wouldn't be all that different from yours.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow...totally beautiful, Wendy. I'd also like to think my conversation would be along the same lines as yours. (Minus the dandelions, because I'd be sneezing and my eyes would water.) :)
    You are a gifted writer--keep persevering!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the whimsical and yet poignant sound of your writing.

    My dreams would say...keep pursuing. There are more of us just over the brow of the next hill.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your voice = amazing.
    Your way of seeing the world = enlightening.
    Your dedication to pursuing your dreams = inspiring.

    I'm sooo eager to see your dreams come true, Wendy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful post!

    Simply beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a cool, dreamy kind of post! Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! Just wow. Wendy, you are so eloquent and inspiring. Thank you for all the insight you share with us on a weekly basis. Like they said above: 100% beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I always thought it was out there somewhere to be found too... I had a recent revelation (thanks to the Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass - it has an AMAZING Christian ending!!!!) very similiar to this. "Every time you reach out to stroke your daughter’s cheek or tickle your husband’s side, every moment you press me down to make a word, every time you extend a part of yourself to pass love onto another…that is my inception." Very memorable!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love this, Wendy! Can't even put into words how much.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'll have to give this a go and see what the outcome is. Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wendy,

    I wanted to keep reading and reading. So beautiful.

    Mel

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wendy:
    This is interesting. I don't think I've read anything like it before.

    ReplyDelete
  14. look forward to digging through your blog some more! new follower- love it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Beautiful is the only way to describe this. Wow!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Very poetic and inspirational. Dreams begin with us and our perceptions with all filters long removed. What is, will be...

    ReplyDelete

Taking Time

college applications                 homecoming                            flag football                basketball             SATs   ...