What the Dream Told Me about Flying Blindly

author's note:

I subscribe to the theory that a dream won’t tell you what you already know.


WHAT THE DREAM TOLD ME ABOUT FLYING BLINDLY

In the dream, I’m flying
but I feel so weak
because I can’t believe I can fly

and feel so scared:
I’m blinded by cloud--
any moment, I could slam
into the flat slab of a cliff.

Some claim dreams
are just nonsense.
But I know the feeling
in this dream to be true.

Yet I wonder:
why do I need a dream
to tell me to be cautious?--
after all, I already am.

And if the dream means
to convince me
I can do what I don’t believe I can,
it hasn’t.

No, I think
the dream came to say:
despite your fright
you can still enjoy this flight
--what a thrill it is!--
you can use that energy
to lighten the doubt
weighing on your wings.

© 2021, Michael R. Patton
The Truth of the Dream: poetry ebook