A Dream of Life

 

A Dream of Life

A fever took me with a puzzling dream

as my mind did sink past the ebony stream

where consciousness meets at elusive door

to familiar places I had seen before.

With a gentle thrust, by empathic will,

the atmosphere sank and gave me a chill

as the visions emerged into the light

I found my streams in the endless night.

A path to a room with beings aglow

of people not met but people I know

from moments in time that all came to pass

including my days through the looking glass.

The beings were faceless but I knew them well

all glowing bright in their humanoid shell

they did not see me while standing there

as I listened to voices and basked in their flare.

I felt their presence, atmosphere was true

a backdrop of moments where memories accrue

and just as I reach, I’m plucked from the sea

back in the world of reality.

Dream begins fading to the fathoms below

headaches emerge as my fever still grows

I slowly get up as if in a trance

I’d been sick for days and this was my chance.

I found my way to the hospital that day

discovered, meningitis had its say

fever had reached to one hundred and five

if I’d stayed home that day, I’d not be alive.

I think back to the dream and what it meant

it gave me the strength even though I was spent

not to give up, there’s hope at the end

with lovers and dreamers and very close friends.

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About this Poem: In my early years I’d lived on my own age of 18 (1978) and was very independent but also lived life by burning the candle at both ends.

In January of 1984, I became very sick and stayed home. I had no energy and I slept a lot. Headaches soon developed and became severe, along with a fever that froze me to my bones. For several days I only had enough energy for about 30 to 40 minutes after which my energy dropped, the headaches became severe and the fever sent me under the blankets.

On the 5th day of the illness, I fell into a deep sleep and experienced the dream described in the poem. When I awoke, I got dressed, grabbed my last three dollars and took a cab to the hospital. The hospital staff admitted me immediately after taking my temperature (105F) They quickly packed me down with ice and moved me to the ICU where they told me that I stayed for a week. I slept most of that time and did not wake except when they came for blood samples. They fed me through an IV and soon after moved me to the isolation ward in my own room.

After a number of blood tests, two spinal taps and other tests they told me I had meningitis, hepatitis and mononucleosis which is why I went into the isolation ward. I was told that, if I had stayed home that day, instead of coming to the hospital, I would not be alive.

My life changed after that, and as I look back to that dream I had in January 1984, I have since met the beings I recognized in that dream. I also have a very strong immune system. 😉