a dreamless sleep

A dreamless sleep

Under skin so soft and thin
There lays a dreamless soul,
It wonders where it must begin
To climb out of this hole.

With puzzlement a muzzled heart
Stares into empty space,
Its daring dreams have lost their voice
Its smile has lost its face.

The cool of night chills to the bone
But reaches further still,
Beyond the bone down to the heart
Where ice first shrouds, then kills.

Life outside begins to die
When hearts beneath grow cold,
Passive wishes take the throne
Where dreams once ruled bold.

What will become of this, our world,
If dreamers start to die,
Sleeping through each passing day
With hearts afraid to try.

We stand again upon the path
Which forks before us now,
The right declares its promises
The left makes no such vow.

If what we want is surety
Then right provides the way,
But right is wrong if what you want
Is for your heart to play.

For on this path the way does not
Allow for dreams to dance,
The signs are plain, the rules are clear,
Desire stands no chance.

But to the left there lies a world
Where footprints are not seen,
It leads you to a place where men
Have yet begun to dream.

It calls forth longings of the heart
To guide the traveler through,
Asking not “who’s gone before?”
But “What am I to do?”

Though few are drawn to walk this path
My heart cannot resist,
I’m driven by a deeper fear
Of what I might have missed.

For every thousand dangers
My heart is sure to face,
There’s bound to be one moment
That safety can’t replace.

Where every second of my life
Was meant for but this one,
When all that once meant everything
Falls to the ground undone.

And in that instant I can see
What life was meant to mean,
Outside the walls of normalcy
Into the world of dreams.

I can’t imagine what a life
Of dreamless sleep would be,
All I know and that is not
What I’ve been born to be.