The Dream

Last night I couldn’t sleep until I fell into a dream about the future, a scene from
a disaster movie. Survivors competed for resources, fighting forces of darkness.

People of all kinds banished to the outskirts of civilization huddled
in structures of flotsam and restraining walls,

abandoned automobiles and ravaged buildings.
I walked along the damaged roadways, ignoring cries from the injured.

My head bent down,
chest tight as I saw hearty people gasping for breath

and weaklings falling limp, littering the alleyways.
Some reached out to me but I plowed through the human suffering

looking for my group… a band of warriors,
We needed to make a plan. How could we save what was left of our world?

"Springtime," one said, trying to recall the season of renewal,
a time when living things reproduced and bloomed.

“We must become the Phoenix, rising from the ashes,” another said,
“focusing on detail in order to assemble a better future.”

“Values must be integrated for contrast and depth,” I responded,
“In a time when nothing matters, everything must matter.

We must take action rather than languish in despair,” we shouted in unison.

We decided to clear land to grow a garden,
learn a song to sing while planting,

show kindness and compassion to one another,
choose words to heal and inspire,

smile and hug one another often.
We continued this way until our reality changed

all hands and minds working toward common goals.
Sadness, we realized was an illusion.

Alienation a choice
all we had to do was reach out to each other.

As a group we celebrated life
rather than clung to it in desperation.

We rejoiced and were happy,
not because of our circumstances, but because life was a gift

we didn’t want to squander
and over time our circumstances turned around.