Lucid Gateway

A poem that I wrote in college as a poetry assignment. (A few times, it has been set to music; maybe someday I'll finally record it!) It's a poem about dreams, and about awakening.

 

I turn through the twists,

twist through the turns.

I can see nothing,

know nothing,

and so walk with my palms outsteched,

letting the walls lead me—

walls which are constructed

from the uniform bricks of my days,

cemented into rows of months,

cemented into layers of years.

 

I feel the walls stretching their arms around me,

swallowing me,

even as I try to pull myself from their mouth.

 

I hit an obstacle!

I try to climb over it,

to duck under it,

to go around it,

to sneak behind it,

to slip through it—

all to no avail.

 

Finally,

with a sigh of exasperation,

I give up. . .

 

. . . and open my eyes,

and twist the handle,

and walk through the door.

Reviews

[Martin R Roa]

I've been thinking about surrender a lot lately, and this resonates for me. Most spiritual development seems to involve surrender, a need to relinquish the self to a power greater than ourselves. It is interesting that, in line 3, there is no way to know the reason for the inability to see, and then 2 lines up from the bottom, there is surrender and restoration of sight, and the exit from this tiresome maze is right there. I sense hope, and release from the mundane. The lack of references to a specific path (spiritual, I presume) leaves this poem open to universal interpretation. Thank you for this nice poem.