I Dreamt a Dream of Dreaming

I closed my eyes beneath a velvet sky, To watch the quiet architecture fall, Where silhouettes of amber learned to fly, And silver shadows danced along the wall. I slept, and in that slumber built a shore, A twilight coast where crimson rivers gleam, Then closed my eyes inside my sleep once more, And softly dreamt a dream within a dream.

The second layer parted like a veil, Revealing cities spun of frosted glass, Where phantom ships of mercury set sail Across a sea of whispered time and grass. There was no gravity, no weight of stone, Just prism light dissolving through the air, A quiet kingdom forged for me alone, Without a waking sorrow left to bear.

Yet deeper still the lucid currents pulled, Beneath the floorboards of the sleeping mind, Where every noisy frequency was lulled, And waking truth was gently left behind. I sank into the center of the deep, A nested world where strange horizons lean, I fell asleep within that second sleep, To dream of dreaming what has never been.

In that third realm, the rules of day unwound. The colors sang in tones of indigo, The quietest idea became a sound, And ancient stars began to burn below. A mirror stood upon an endless plain, Reflecting worlds that branched into the dark, Untouched by grief, untouched by mortal rain, Ignited by a single deviant spark.

I reached to touch the silver of the glass, And felt the ripples spread across my hand. I watched the boundaries of the waking pass, Like scattered dust across an ocean sand. Which world is real, and which is only spun From phantom light that lingers in the seam? I opened eyes beneath a midnight sun, Still dreaming that I woke from such a dream.