The Frightening Dream

Walking in the twilight with my darling, hand in hand, Was a joy beyond description, all sweethearts will understand. We were laughing without reason, stopping now and then to kiss. Only those who love as we do could know ecstasy like this. Suddenly the dark had deepened and I felt an eerie chill. His fingers tightened on my hand and pulled me closer still. It was unlike a common blackout as electric power goes down, When there is still a bit of natural light to turn the black to brown. This darkness was an absolute, no stray gleam anywhere, As if the sun, the moon, the stars were all no longer here. My dear one was now dragging me, I could no longer walk. I tried to phrase a protest but my tongue refused to talk. The whole world had been silenced to degree I’d never known As though completely vanished and we two were all alone. Though I was void of any feelings as my darling ran in fear, I was aware he raced for safety from a danger yawning near. Suddenly the silence lifted at the sound of the alarm. I was hanging to my pillow; it was not my lover’s arm. The sunlight was streaming through the window and the door, I welcomed it with ardor I had never known before. Lying there to ponder on the meaning of the dream I thought of Munch’s painting, he’d entitled as “The Scream’’. I knew exactly why my love had run as though my life to save. I had been given a brief preview of dark silence of my grave.