Dreamwake

‘I’ve never felt quite so tired as this,’

I think, when I climb the stair,

It’s almost as if there’s a drug in wait

When I get to the room, up there,

My eyelids battle to stay apart

They act like blinds on my eyes,

My mind, it fades like a feeble heart

And I live in a world of lies.

But then I wake as I fall asleep

It’s a different world out there,

Beyond the billows of eiderdowns,

Of pillows and deep despair,

I see approaching a sailing ship

Its top gallants wrought in gold,

The breeze is driving it in reverse

And the Southern Ocean’s cold.

While I am floating above the seas

Above the breakers and spray,

Floating high up above the breeze

Like a long lost castaway,

The sun, it nestles behind a cloud

And it casts its shadow far,

The sailors call in their dream-sleep all,

‘We don’t know where we are!’

I couldn’t care where I am, it seems,

I’m happy drifting away,

I’d rather my life was spent in dreams

Than lost in some grim dismay,

For Erika comes to visit me

But only when I’m asleep,

She lives on another balcony

And we try to keep it discreet.

She never waves when I pass her by

She doesn’t acknowledge me,

I think it’s on account of the guy

Who’s guarding her, jealously.

But late at night, asleep and a-dream

She comes to my hiding place,

And says, ‘One day, you know what I mean…’

I’m so in love with her grace.

Then I awake in a darkened room

With the skies grey overall,

Back to a life of unleavened gloom,

Where I spend each day appalled,

For people haunting my stair are ghosts

As they pass me by in the stream,

I wave them away from my sailing ship,

They have no part in my dream.

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Barbz]

What a beautifully written poem, and extremely heart wrenching . It was titled perfectly and I simply could not wait to get into the "meat" of it. It brought to my mind, after reading it, of a line in a song of long ago..."In my solitude you haunt me". You confirm to us, with your pen, that our body fails us when the glory of love is not present, and even the comfort of your soft, billowy retreat, filled with the gift of the eider duck makes no difference. And so we dream awake....Thank you David Lewis Paget for another favorite!....Barbz

[emmajoy]

There's such a slow.growing sadness in this wonderful piece of writing. It's as if the main character is ceding to something that's taking over thoughts and deeds that hitherto (what a word) has been acceptable but now... Maybe as life takes on an older coat, we look back or look too far into the future..

As ever your meter is superb, your story.telling firm and vibrant - however veiled in mood.. and your no. 1 fan leaves, satisfied. Thank you for sharing yet again, David.

[joshua deathdealer]

Wow. This is a beautiful poetic experience. Drawed my attention quickly and held true. Nice work sir.