Atlantis:
2: Reprieve
Dreamed c. 1993 by Mark Doty and Wally Roberts
written by Mark Doty
I woke in the night
and thought, It was a dream, nothing has torn the future apart,
in dread, it never happened,
there was this sensation of terrific pressure
in one of those old diving bells,
how heavy my life had become--so much fear,
being young again, but I understood
and so I felt both young and awake,
when I was young. The curtains moved
and I thought, I can move that easily.
a decade, a dream can seem like that,
And then of course the truth
You know how children
by saying, It was all a dream? Years ago,
I used to tell them this ending spoiled things,
what had come before. Now I know
that gesture of closure,
but a waking. What other gift
This was the dream that Wally told me:
and there really was a light at the end,
His arms were full of people, men and women,
he was the size of you or me.
we're going dancing. And they seemed so glad
join them, but I said,
when he finished,
weight of him, I didn't know
nothing's wrong now,
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SOURCE: "Atlantis" is a set of six poems by Mark Doty; it's the heart of his 1994 collection Atlantis. Three of the six are dream-centered. The World Dream Bank normally excludes nondream poems, but these are so powerful and compassionate I've made an exception and posted all six: 1 Faith - 2 Reprieve - 3 Michael's Dream - 4 Atlantis - 5 Coastal - 6 New Dog
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