Dreamer Poem by Maureen Travers

In dreams I live my inner life
No mere neural pathways, these,
A world of the possible in one night,
No handholds there for me to seize.

Instead I fall, I fly, I die
To be reborn, to laugh, to cry,
Observer and observed am I,
Simultaneously truth and lie.

In dreams I can the hero be
And bend reality to my will,
No limit to my imaginings,
I am all prowess, strength and skill.

And so I fight, I lose, I win,
I face my fears, lead with my chin,
Bringing all my experience in,
Simultaneously virtue and sin.

In dreams all timelines can converge,
I glimpse my future and my past,
Conflicts with loved ones are resolved
In moments of clarity that do not last.

For I must flit from scene to scene,
Each drama enacted on my mind’s screen,
Awake, their meanings I cannot glean,
Simultaneously real and dream.