Only a Dream

A 2014 piece. It remains a personal favorite of mine to this day.

Dew falls as tears glisten, stark against speckled glass.

The sigh of bittersweet rain upon translucent panes and vacant orbs of ash mauve,

The heave of enervated hearts and broken dreams.

Staring beyond the crystalline fringes to reveries of procured ambitions

and linking shards that fill the rifts of one's being.

Looking for the enigma with sable locks and virescent irises.

Waiting for him,

The boy that promised they'll be together forever,

The man that never came.

The entity that never existed.

She believed she would come by him,

Stumble across him against the limitations and practicalities of this world,

That destined hearts, bound souls, would find one another despite the odds,

despite the truth.

For he was very much real in the illusions that are dreams,

The mirages of the mind.

The quirk of a smile, the whisper of shifting hair and beating lash,

The tilt of the brow and the cadence of mellifluous timbres.

Tangible idiosyncrasies that billowed from extending hands,

Reachable but never attainable.

Fading away with each day unremembered,

Struggling to recall the contours of the jaw, the wink of the eyes.

Only now, it's all but an evanescent dream of the past,

A fool's wish though she knew in reality it was just that-

A dream.

Author's Note

This was actually the first piece I ever put on Writers Cafe from years back on my old account which I have since deleted. I guess now it's a staple of my writing? Haha :)

Reviews

[RuseInex]

you've taken the ethereal images dwelling in your mind and shared by materializing the intangible to real, graciously bringing to the reader a transport to sacred glimpse into the character's heart, . . . emotions are vivid, . . . even to the setting's outside environment, it's poignant subtlety, brought into the picture, melding together with feelings, temperature, color . . . ash and mauve's effect . . . , Beautiful wistfulness, gorgeous symmetry of your script's prose that tells a story with unusual description, mesmerizing and sad, yet pleasurable to read over and over again.

[Chryiss]

Your review was written so lovely I felt as I were actually reading a poem. I'm glad my poem had that effect. Thank you so much! :)

[Cherrie Palmer]

What a great balance this observer has and your voice as narrator opens the window so we can see as well. Wonderful and creative.

[Chryiss]

Thank you! Haha, the girl is really just sitting by the window, but I wanted the feeling to go beyond that, so I'm glad observers could see through too.

[Einstein Noodle]

packed full of story ... delicious language and imaging .. and i especially like the perspective of your narrator in this ... the wise ethereal voice telling of the "he" and "she" ..its a refreshing perspective says i! well done! creating that state of dream world vs. reality, hopes and longing vs memories isn't very easy in my opinion .. at least to do it successfully ... which i think you have and in few lines ... ... i am glad you have re-posted it ..again..love the language
E.

[Chryiss]

You nailed the mood I was going for! I'm glad the tones and ideas I was trying to convey were felt and understood.

Btw, this may be sorta random... but I really really love your username! It makes me so happy every time I say it in my head. Maybe that's kind of silly, but I get joy out of small, random stuff like that. (Seriously I can't get this stupid smile off my face.)
Anyways, thanks so much for stopping to read this!

[Einstein Noodle]

now i'm grinning :))))))))))))))))))))) Einstein is my favorite genius ... his mind worked intuitively ... so he arrived at places but did not know how he got there ;) plus ..his life and escapades were very human ... top o' the mahrnin' to ya!

[NotUsinganymore]

Very beautiful poem. I got the feeling that it was about someone who lost someone and is searching for them even though they died.

[Chryiss]

Thank you! I like hearing different interpretations, and I didn't think of that one actually. In a sense you're right that they died, but rather, it was in the heart and mind rather than physical..

[NotUsinganymore]

Oooh very interesting!