Dream Reality Poem by Ananta Madhavan

"Ever drifting down the stream -
Lingering in the golden gleam -
Life, what is it but a dream? "
Lewis Carroll, ‘Alice's Adventures
Though the Looking-Glass': the end.
- -

As a boy, I loved the story book by the Oxford don,
And as a man I found his nonsense great fun,
Especially when absurdity made good sense.

The Wonderland and the Mirror's obverse country
Helped me to see things in and out of proportion.
And in both the dreamer protagonists,

Like the White Queen, Mock turtle and Kitty
Are logical subject-objects, comic and witty.
When Alice awakens, she is called to tea at home.

The real world may be illusive, a dream or nightmare.
If it is a parody, fable or allegory, Reality
Is perhaps a consensual non-sequitur.