DREAM SEQUENCE / by Olivia Pirie-Griffiths

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Drip, drip… drip, drip.

Little sounds everywhere

all a suddy you're aware

of creaks and cranks throughout the night

of bumps that wake you up in fright

a skitter on the floorboard starts

a mental theatre, in two parts:

 

Act One houses moonlight through

the open window, there’s a clue!

but still you're in a placid sleep

dreaming of a lake so deep

fish swimming slowly down below

to fathoms where the strange things grow…

 

and then from blackness comes a shape

your dreaming mouth does drop and gape

a tentacle of brilliant hue,

of fleshy pink and mouldy blue!

comes winding upwards through the dark

it grabs your foot, and with a start –

 

up you sit in bed – the shock!

the frame like a canoe does rock

as though you're travelling on the tide

your foot (you check) is safe inside

you breathe anew and look around

you're safe at home, so lie back down

and slowly once again you go

into the moonlit shadows, lo!

 

"Behold Act Two!", Luna cries

while she lounges in the sky

a champion of eerie sport

this nightmare watchman loves her work

touching eyelids closed and calm

you've welcomed her, in all her charm

until you feel a hint of fear

for you don't really know her, dear.

 

She finds her way beneath your eyes 

and side-long by your dream she flies

until you're moving head-to-head

you turn and notice what you dread

she's changed the course on which you fly

The Place of Plenty passes by

she leads you into craggy hills 

where darkness clings to rock and tree

the sounds, the scents

they disappear

instead come shadows, wraiths of fear 

they circle round you, faceless, cold 

this isn't where you want to be.

 

They wrap you up just like a fly

wriggles in a web to die

and all the while she gazes down

an ancient rock with gleaming crown

this is, for her, a nightly feast

she preys on dreamers in their peace

'That's it!' you cry, with raspy voice,

'dreamers dream, this is my choice!'

Luna looks on with a frown

you're free to go, you've won this round

 

you breaststroke upward to the sky

watching whisps of cloud pass by

the shadows fade, and light flows in

your body rests on pillows white

a breeze is rippling on your skin

but cloud-made quilts, they wrap you tight

you sigh a sigh of sheer relief

you conquered Luna's Land of Grief!

your eyelids open slow to see

moonbeams on the old gum tree.

~