Between Desire and the Dream

we all of us

are trapped

between god and beast

unbelief and grief

ecstasy and the thief

given then taken

from demons in heaven

to angels in hell

we exist wise but blind

too young to see

but too old to leave

trapped

in between the dream

and nightmare

as an accessory after the fact

awoken but not yet awake

always bedridden

always awaiting an end

to begin anew

on our feet

more true

tomorrow

than yesterday

but artificial

as long as it comes

one more time

like yesterday

to start our beginning

into new endings

again and again

forgetting the same

each time

getting up

to lie down

again and again

between the dream

and nightmare

awake but not awoken

with eyes wide open

to a closed mind

unknowing and trapped

between the desire

and the dream

of eternity

we breathe

Author's Note

Reviews

[Margie F]

There's so much that I like about this piece. I really like the broad contrast throughout the piece. Some of them really speak to me such as: "between god and beast, unbelief and grief, ecstasy and the thief"..."trapped, in between the dream, and nightmare, as an accessory after the fact'..."again and again" (I feel this repeat throughout the poem without it having to be said)..."awake but not awoken,
with eyes wide open, to a closed mind, unknowing and trapped" geez these 4 lines together--how many people does it speak of...at many times in my past, it referred to me, maybe even still today on some topics. Dave, I love it! As you can see by how much I point out there, nearly the entire poem spoke to me, but these specific parts really hit me.

Just one point...did you intend the last word to be "breathe" instead of "breath?"

[Davidgeo]

Thanks Margie. I did indeed mean breathe instead of breath.

[Margie F]

I got your back. ;)

[KarinaNovakMonsonego]

That is very intresting take on reincarnation. As i see it you are saying that we live again and again but unable to learn from our mistakes so we are doomed to repeat them. Is this our hell on earth? I wonder what could happen if we were allowed to remember? Would life be paradise or would we just find new mistakes.

[Ana B.]

I don't know if you ever watched the tv show ''American gods'' but this makes me ponder over the same ideas when watching that tv show.

[KWP]

yeah - it's a place which seems inescapable ... the in between ... and yet ... when we canister outside of the cinema we have created for ourselves ... well then we get to observe, woman even get to find the place of origin where theres no here, there's no there, there's just right now, and in the right now, well, everything is just as we need it to be.

X

[Davidgeo]

It's not inescapable... because there's no where to escape to (or from). Everything is it's own center, every moment in time. which means there really is no center. But that doesn't mean everything is just as we need it to be, not all centers are created equal. If only minutely, there is a slight difference between every center... without that difference - all would be the same, nothing would matter, we would not exist. The precious is defined by the pain, you cannot have one without the other. There would be no purpose for either. At the bottom is the top, at the top is the bottom... contradiction is the dirty little secret to existence. Just ask Schrodinger's cat.

[KWP]

as I said - 'seems' inescapable :D and f course you are right - I am at the centre right now - but really does anything really matter - ir is that too just a perception?

How you man?

[Davidgeo]

I know you always get it, but if I don't articulate it we both just sound like pretentious hippie jerks. Which, is probably true anyway.

And course some of these things matter... we wouldn't be talking about things mattering if they didn't, you know, matter and such. That's my perception of it anyway.

How are you lady face? Still trying to save the world are ya? It makes for such lovely pictures on the bookface... don't tell my mom but I kinda wish I was one of your kids. That sounds kinda weird given that we're almost the same age but, whatevers.

I be good, thanks for the obligatory askings. Although this whole aging thing is really starting to piss me off. I think I might have abused my body a little too much in the past. Perception and mindfulness have not been able to create new cartilage or grow back the top of my right index finger.

[KWP]

Ha . It’s interesting how you can read my thoughts from all the way over there ... you articulate things a whole lot better than me and I always get to ponder those thoughts of yours - although I would t call ya a hippie ... but we can be try hard hippies together - yeah ...

But does any of it matter ... I’m not so sure ... and why the heck were we given such a consciousness?

I was at a wedding yesterday with friends from way back ... this was the original party crowd ... and I mean party crowd ... it’s great to see what with the amount of drugs we took back then all of us are still with it 😊 saying that, the groom has brain cancer and he has been given 2-5 to live - but boy have all of us LIVED.

Hahaha what a statement - one of my kids!!!! I’d prefer that instead of you ever having made your way out of my vagina we could just be conversational drinking buddies ...

Today I was listening to a podcast with David Goggins - what a tough MOFO!!! Great to hear about his Navy Seal experiences.

BTW it wasn’t an obligatory ask .. I enjoy our hang outs ...

[Davidgeo]

The more elaborate parts of our consciousness aren't much different than peackock feathers... just an elaborate way to attract a mate. Peacocks can't even fly or really do anything other than pick worms out of the dirt, but they are such lovely creatures and they have had no real problem surviving.

Combined with a strong desire to catch food our monkey brains took it a few steps further, evolution made it so about 25ish percent of our metabolic energy is spent on our brains... spent on "being clever".

Being clever is how we survived and reproduced in a very hostile environment. Our species eventually became so proficient at dominating our surroundings we've come to the point where we don't really need all those gimmicks to survive anymore. So we've became free to apply it elsewhere... we've become free to become clever in ways that have nothing to do with immediate survival. We've looked far into the skies and far into ourselves to find a deeper meaning. Unfortunatly, that meaning may just be something we've projected onto a thing that doesn't give a f**k beyond just "being". Nature is probably just a machine and we are probably just byproducts of it's existence. In a million years the universe will still just be the universe as if we were never here to begin with. Or maybe that "cleverness" is an elaborate step in a different kind of evolution... maybe it's our key to live beyond the flesh and beyond this planet and spread this "conscious" gift beyond the dirt of the earth. If we don't none of this will matter eventually, our meaning may or may not be irrelevant.

[KWP]

Yeah wow ... you ever notice how some of our best thought structures come from replies in an environment such as this ... extremely succinct - that’s why I love ya ... nice one ... I will read this again when my head is clear ...

I have a postcard I’ve been meaning to write and send ... I may do that this week ...