I Had a Dream When I Was Young
I had a glistening dream when I was young
Bright as an orange on October tree
Near as the horizon on the rim of the sea
Sweet as mango sweating in the grass
Clear as the crystal of the hour glass
I had a dream when I was young
Caught in the web of my forerunners' vision
Not even in sleep could I fall into oblivion
I shew the world my dream yesterday
Let them touched it
My coat of many colors leaking through their hands
My map of El Dorado across the pearly sands
They touched my mimosa, touched my goatskin
Getting ready in the sun to become my drum
All I would sing is another song of me
Of ancient cadence, rhyming with theirs my beauty
And all the while I did not know
I should have asked them how to climb ladders
With my greasy appendages
They covered me with the oil of their gladness
Snickering at my feathers clammy with expectations
I, poor Icarus, shackled in my father's genius
To cheat the minotaur and melt in the sun
Life is not a struggle to understand our dreams
It is for a longing to escape that the heart screams
And yet my dream keep hanging on
Even when the big fish swallowed me
Even when I cried fruitlessly
Under the calabash tree, my dream is young
And I growing old, must follow it still
I have known adventures following that star.
Now the dream has me
Yearning for the rainbow with my pot of gold
We cannot journey unless we believe, no one returns
From yesterday, tomorrow in forever churns.
Copyright © David Smalling | Year Posted 2010
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