Danny Derden Poet Free verse

MY DREAM WITHIN A DREAM

My Dream Within A Dream Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Constance La France
9/16/2025

Edgar Allan Poe: "All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream."

My Dream Within A Dream

Somnambulant dreamer,
Dancing in time to silent music,
Pirouetting arabesques,
And grand jetés performed as on stage.

While all around her people stared,
Astonished by what this darling dared.
Leaping, spinning, and body rolls,
She danced through her dream out of control.
Tumbles and twirls, tempo frenzied,
Her youth and beauty were so envied.
Lithesome grace utterly entrancing,
This young beauty caught dream dancing.

So lost in the dream, her steps faltered,
Lovely dancer, soon to be martyred.
Upon the pyre of lust and greed,
Selfish desires of the watchers' need,
Pulled against the dancer's grace,
And brought a tear to the lovely face.
The crowd's screams broke the count,
Her mistakes began to mount,
Until what once was sweet and pure,
Became something so unsure.
The dream, a nightmare instead,
The dance, a thing of terrible dread,
Our lovely dancer dreams no more.

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Mystic Rose Rose October 6, 2025 at 6:52 PM this was very well written gl in the contest Danny Derden October 7, 2025 at 10:11 AM Thank you.

sara Etgen-Baker September 19, 2025 at 3:53 PM oh, this poem touched me...for a dancer to faulter is the ultimate nightmare. My aunt (a former ballerina dream of falling on stage and the crowd booing her.' Danny Derden September 19, 2025 at 4:49 PM I penned this with my grand daughter in mind...she took dance in school so I learned a bit about the art.