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Notes About The Poem

"Ole-Luk-Oie, throws a small quantity of very fine dust in the eyes of children", to get them to sleep. "Ole-Luk-Oie does not wish to hurt them, for he is very fond of children, and only wants them to be quiet that he may relate to them pretty stories". "As soon as they are asleep"... "he seats himself upon the bed". "Under each arm he carries an umbrella; one of them, with pictures on the inside, he spreads over the good children, and then they dream the most beautiful stories the whole night. But the other umbrella has no pictures, and this he holds over the naughty children so that they sleep heavily, and wake in the morning without having dreams at all." Hans Christian Andersen (1841) folk tale Ole Lukøje

Listen to poem:

Sandbag of Dreams

Dreams surge in and out with the dozing.
Some are new, some are repeats and series.
It's hard to control what's played remotely.
It's hard to understand what pops up, and when.
It's hard to switch the nightmares off and bad ones to pause
It's hard to know if your dream is lucid or not, dreaming when conscious,
knowing you are in your dream, while continuing to dream.
Perhaps you are daydreaming or sleepwalking?
Does and mirror show you, does the time on a clock change?
Pinch your nose, can you still breathe?
Can you feel your hands grasp real objects?
Set a goal to remember that you’re dreaming to become lucid.
Being lucid is the best way to control your dreaming,
and to know the nightmare isn’t real and will end.
Being lucid evokes the sandman 
to sprinkle magic sand in eyes, 
so that any dream you dream, 
is beautiful in recall,
or you dream not at all, 
or your dreams are not recalled.

dreamfree verse

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