End of the Dream

I went to sleep and I had a dream,

In the dream was a dream of you,

I didn’t know whether to wake or scream,

Or what I was going to do,

For in the dream was a stately home

That I’d seen some time before,

And you were lain in a pool of blood

On a Persian rug, on the floor.

 

I seem to have met you yesterday,

Perhaps we met in the dream,

I couldn’t remember yesterday

But I saw you there, it seems,

You walked toward me, caught my eye

I thought we were going to meet,

You turned and suddenly walked away

Before I had time to speak.

 

A shadow had come between us two

In the dream about the dream,

A man in a raincoat, scowling too

As he stood there, in between,

‘Leave her alone, she’s not for you,

You’d better be going home.’

I said, ‘Get out of my dream, you fool,

This dream is mine alone!’

 

I followed you into the stately home

As you drifted across the floor,

You seemed to float on a cloud of foam

And left through the further door,

It opened out to a sunlit beach

Where the man in the raincoat stood,

You said, ‘I wish you had come before

When the way of the world was good.’

 

The man in the raincoat pulled a gun

And chased us back through the door,

He fired a shot and you fell right there

On the Persian rug on the floor,

I helped you up and we walked away

As the man began to scream,

I said, ‘You’re not going to harm her now,

You’re just a dream in a dream!’

 

I woke today to an empty bed

And I saw you lying there,

The gun on the pillow, by my head

And the police were everywhere,

You lay so still on the Persian rug

That I felt a sudden chill,

I said, ‘the man in the raincoat came,

I thought that it wasn’t real!’

 

I seem to be caught in a nightmare

They have locked me into a cell,

I’m trying to shake myself awake

From a dream that was made in hell,

This nightmare’s just a dream in a dream

And I know that when I wake,

We’ll walk together along that beach

And we’ll watch the breakers break.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Mark]

Rather more macabre than your usual...I LOVE it! What, after all, IS poetry, other than delving into the depths of our minds, and displaying what we may find there (hopefully in an attractive and approachable manner!)? Of that, you are the undisputed master...but I'm repeating myself!

[Michael Kevin Spencer]

This consciousness of the dream-self is very fun to read, though it's a bit unsettling at times to see what we have burried in our subliminal or subconscious layers (if you believe in such things)

[TPK Stories]

this was a little scary...but great dream

[Lena M. P.]

Now that is a plot inside of a plot inside of insanity! Twisted,eerie, and needs a big dose of Antipsychotic drugs! Great story!

[Valentine]

A different concept for you but still a great write..now tonight I may be having nightmares of something in a rian coat in a dream within a dream..You are so funny sonme times David..Your mind must work in high gear all of the time..Kathie

[Southern Cross]

Twists and turns and such amazing ability to rhyme. I think rhyme is an art in of itself and you have achieved it

[Marie]

A dream within a dream...and waking to a nightmare...
But the nightmare may be just as much of a dream...

[Becky C Strukamp]

Your ability to compose these masterpieces is amazing. Sometimes there' lies a thin line between reality and dream. We can dream dreams awake and take cover inside ourselves issuing to ourselves, its just a dream, nightmare,

Excellent dreaming!!

[David Scott]

We create our own nightmares don't we...
A fine poem of wrestling demons within.
Your mind is ever a sharp tool my friend.
Thank you again for a peek into such a briliant writing mind.

[Carolann Dowsett]

Absolutely fantastic. I love the dream in a dream and I've actually had one of those a few times. The flow of the words in this is brilliant it's like a story in a poem in a story. Love every word and line.