Some Dreams Evolve

while appearing to subsist in normality
encircled by lights of love and security—
not every shape of life we encounter
floats on calm mirrors of untainted waters
unforeseen and sudden—many hopes
drift far beyond the safety of any lifeboat

even our eyes—glazed over in wetness—
from the incessant trials of our family
laden in lonely voids of cancerous maladies
or stormy waves of darkening depression
now peer through dry tears of lost dreams
even our moistened pillows fail as a remedy

when we abruptly awaken upon arid sands
that fold us into their desolate fiery desert
our faltering paths sink into indigo fears
beneath its dark and unforeseen presence
we long for any blessed mercies that appear
common among countless other families

but our veiled cries seem to never surface
so—after a long spell in our pity party—
we came to discover—time after time—
other numerous souls sailing a coarser life
beyond our sharpest years ever imagined
beyond old words that confined us in walls

gradually—deeply—seeds of empathy
took root in the soils of our experiences
and sprouted inside our cultivated spirits
our twisted trees rose under ruddy skies
but bent in the stiff howling winds of life
we blossomed—but in unexpected shapes

now—as we attempt to take it all upon us
surrounded by a heaping talus of troubles
burdened beneath the heavy shadows
of the family that we ceaselessly love—
we try to wear hurts awkwardly inside
while painting it gracefully on the outside

believing life's grinds in scarcities of light
trapped in our own fractured red clay pots
of time should rain all their sadness down
upon our stronger and better patient hands—
to lift our younger, pure, and innocent heads
upon stronger wings of our flowing hope

that in all our rawest of errant disorders—
our imaginary boundaries of us and them
we might slowly but softly learn to adapt
to reach beyond our confusion of pains
and fix up whatever stuff may remain
within our worn-out tears of emptiness

for in our languishing corridors of society
we learned to brush on eyes of light—so that
when anyone questions—"are we okay?”
we simply say "yes"—to offer a kind face
yet deep inside our hearts—we know
our hurts curl up in these short fake smiles

we learned to live in slices of our dreams
in moments of younger—more eager eyes
using their sweetest words as our songs
we pray for their courage to find real peace
and in all our visions inside sounder hopes
we dream of reinforcing their lofty dreams

our pains discovered greener joys as we
mined out short momentums of service—
we conjured in other's shadows of doubt
to depend more on a combined strength
with those who walk upon far steeper paths
as one—we labored on—to return their light

and in our unique but grief-stricken ways
on wild rivers or plains—unanticipated
we ultimately discovered that in the end—
we all float together and are healed
together in a colorful quilt of unity
one—we are still learning how to sew

in all our vast prayers of nightly dreams—
protected by enduring remnants of faith
we still reach out to powers far beyond us
and attempt to find a purpose and grace
in the loss of another precious dream
and somehow—we resolve to dream again

but when we are all alone—inside walls
of a darkness—we reserve for ourselves
we snuggle up close—embracing eternity
and we weep under clouds of lost dreams
watering our futures with the loving tears
that evolve a cloud into a greener vision
for a sunnier day and a far brighter hope