The Dream Poem by Toshia Hall

Wandering down the murky tunnel,

I count the cracks along the cavern walls.

Further and further they spread like veins.

To my avid blood, their secrets call.



They promise understanding and hope.

All the answers my heart wishes to know.

I trace my finger along their ridged curves

And close my eyes, coaxing them to show.



I see the opening coming close, so

I follow them to the end of their reach.

I kiss the secrets goodbye and face forward,

Only to be greeted by a desolate beach.



I trail along the wanderer’s footsteps

Until I reach the sea’s cooling caress.

In I dip one toe and then two,

Sighing in contempt and bliss.



I scrub my foot against the jagged sand,

And turn to stare into the vast emptiness.

A place once so full of life and joy,

Now completely emerged into nothingness.



I remove my foot from the sea’s rolling wave

And wonder 'Where did the happiness go? '

I once held it so tightly in my grasp but as the

Sand in my hand, it quickly fades too.



Should I return back to the tunnel

And beg it for the answers I crave?

Or wander through my existence,

Alone and confused, ‘till my grave?



I awake to find my breathing harsh.

Images of the vivid dream dance in

My eyes sight, to a horrid tune

As sand rubs my foot at the bed’s end.