They Dream Poem by Mamta Sagar

One there, one here, dreams,
mixed up dreams;
dreams, two of the same kind, like
two-in-one, the dreams.
Just like that... hand
in hand, lip to lip, body
to body, mind on mind...

Caress me, look into me, says her dream.
A smiling response, his dream.
He dreams to drink her in; she desires
to encircle him as a dream-desire.

His dream is her, and her dream, him;
they transcend beyond the him and her
becoming a dream
And thus, they dream...

The dreams vainly long for the real; his
dream keeps looking, caressing,
takes her in, and dreams of sinking into her.
Her dream encircles,
whirrs around, takes him on,
peeks at him, and dances enraptured.
Her body is soft and light. She can
spread that infinite lightness of desire
and conquer the sky's expanses.
To swim, to fly - they start off
with dreams as carriers. He, the fish,
and she, the bird. In search of each
other, he dives the deep; she spans
the heights.
On waves, in the sparkling water,
unblinkingly, he glides from
crest to trough, searches for
foot-prints, dives into the empire of
dreams. If she searches, one end to
the other end of the widening sky
expanse, he's not there. The soft touch
on the body, the mild fingering of a vacuum
desire - in the vacuum of such expanse
there is no place for dreams.

Down there, in the water, seeing
her there, far above, he bounces up;
She bends, sweeps down, and encircles
the waves. This is the real; it
cannot be held.
Once reality strikes, the dream
is gone; the dream is a memory.
Once turned into reality, dreams
dream of turning back into dream.
For, if realities should dream,
the sea should split, and sky and
earth should meet.
It has to happen!

Translated by Chitra Panikkar and Mamta Sagar