Nostradamus's Dream Poem by William Waterway

in a dream I dreamt I saw Nostradamus
watching dream unfold within dream
a long and winding dark cave I did enter
in search of what was lost almost forever

I see him sitting upon a tripod stool of brass
with moist branch he circles the bowl’s rim
raising voices from beyond that spoke to him
as water molecules foretell from crystal glass

each step took me deeper into the darker
each step guided by memory of past marker
each step found with search of place at night
each step chosen from mind with second sight

jutting rocks above sought my head to sever
but sense of being and fateful hand did deliver
my journey deep along the path where many weep
and others sleep – never to find their way to keep

to inhale this place of magical majesty held dear
by those whose essence turn keys without fear
and walk across the open plain into forests far
leaving a legacy for others to gather into a jar

within the cave resides one’s share of the nightmare
not all will survive the night to witness mourning light
for such is the eternal flow of flood over bodies bare
feeding the void with corpses from fright-filled flight

outside the entrance stands a stone obelisk of old
from top to bottom carved two lines of symbols bold
within which our human story of folly is foretold
of living dead whose energy cannot be controlled

so I say to you the reader of this lost poem today
don’t waste time wishing on the morrow’s empty day
chose wisely what you hold within your dying being
for such the gift granted to you from the beginning

each beat of your heart a timepiece gifted at birth
each beat of your heart marks time here on earth
so beckon love with arms held high and touch of sky
hands holding heavy – with seconds lost in every lie

impoverished soul often steals from others unknown
and claims their ideas, art, poetry, prose as their own
same goes for money stolen from those unschooled
taken advantage of – as though deserve being fooled

thus the greedy banker buys his way to happiness
a shining example of a soul filled with emptiness
awaiting accounting when body but nothingness
wondering why our world now filled with craziness

and in the whisper of darkness before last twilight
mad humans deal in weapons and stuff their pockets
with lives lost to bullets and bombarding rockets
possessing puny power in skins afraid of skylight

now comes the time when gems lose their glitter
when gathering of mountains of gold loses luster
when plundering of lesser no longer props society
when power of throne no longer guides integrity

so cherish with all your senses the world now near
feel within, see without, smell, touch, and hear
for the next moment may be your last to know
power to choose the life to live in eternal flow