DREAM OF BIRDS

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hermes

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'She woke up screaming,'
Said the little bird,
'Must have been a bad dream.'

'It could have been a really good one.'

'I don't think so, sire.'

'What should I do about it?'

'Well,'
The canary stuttered,
'I don't expect you to do anything.'

'Then why do you tell me?'

'I thought you would want to know.'

'You are convinced I hang on your every word little one?'

'I am convinced you are curious and like to know what is happening on this plane.'

'She had a dream, a bad one, so what little bird?'

'Sire, have you had a bad dream?'

'Yes'

'One where you wake up screaming?'

'Once, maybe, as a child perhaps.'

'I had one once, my sire.'
He flapped to the windowsill his sire sat on and perched on his sire's knee.
'In the creaking shadows between wake and sleep, I once saw another bird, a canary, my lover...

She was grand
And her yellow feathers sparkled in the morning light
Like your gold could never even hope to achieve.

She was mine
And we flew together through lands that your kingdom,
If I may be so bold,
Would ever conceive to conquer

We had traversed high and low
To find nothing but the finest things
Of which to make our nest together

She was with children
It had taken us long to conceive
But I did not mind the practice

I had found nothing but the finest silk
The deepest velvet
The thinnest lace

Nothing less was deserved by my love
Or my offspring

The sun rose as it did many times
Though not as often as it does here
And I had discovered for myself a deep quest

I had convinced my love to stay
As I flew
Under the artifice that she was with children
And should rest

My wings beat hard in the air
The day before the wise owl had told me
Of a fabric like none other

It belonged to the Sky Emperor
Who?s realm talked with the stars and
Whose winds directed the course of nations on the land

This cloth was softer than silk
More luxurious than velvet
Warmer than the newest fauns? skin

My love deserved no less
I was but a small and humble bird
But I would treat her like she was
The Hawk empress herself

The horizon was still growing gold
In the light of the breaking sun
My heart beat like a leopard in the fields of gazelles

I pointed my beak higher and higher
My wings pushed up and down faster as the air grew thinner
Feathers shook and tore from my wings

I let go a mighty cry
That seamed to burst from my chest
Like my heart was tempting to do

I was pushing farther
Until I knew I was there
In the kingdom of the Sky Emperor

The clouds bellow me swayed and cooed
Singing songs to tempt me back to earth
I did not listen

The glass walls above me threw their stars
Burning and bright
Coming close
But never reaching me

My wings stopped flapping
I let the wind push me along
And gathered my breath

The chimes of a thousand winds rang in my soul
The glass towers and spires
Rising above me the closer I came

The wind stopped and I perched at the heavy wooden door
His gargoyles eyed me cautiously
?What are you doing here little one?? one shaped like an elder dragon said

?Yes,?? said the other shaped like a lion
??What is one so small doing up here so high?
He sniffed the air around me loosing a few feathers

I raised my head to them
?I have come for the cloth of the Sky Emperor.?
And they both recoiled in surprise

?You want the cloth?
The dragon said
?Do you know what that cloth is for, my young small one??

The lion pushed the elder aside
?The Sky Emperor uses that,
To make his clouds, to hang in the sky.?

?I just want a small piece?
I said as I tried to make my way closer to the door
So that I could get inside

The dragon scoffed
?You cannot take just one piece,
You take one you take all, such is the nature.?

?You would not be able to have it anyway,?
The lion said
?The Sky Emperor would never allow it.?

?How will we know,?
I replied
?Unless I am admitted to ask him.?

?It is not easy,?
Said the dragon.
?He does not like visitors.?

?He will like me,?
I tried to deepen my voice,
?If you let me pass.?

?Perhaps,? Said the lion,
?You do not know what it is like to serve a master
Who does not appreciate his servant
especially when the servant uses his free will.?

?I do not know,?
I turned my head from him to the door
?I do not care?

The lion grew angry
But the dragon said,
With a smile only a dolphin should be allowed to have,
?Perhaps you will care.
We will let you pass,
But you are warned.?

? I am warned.?
The doors pushed forward with a mighty heave
And I was introduced to halls beyond splendor

Your kingdom has never seen glass work such as it
Everything was glass
Everything from the biggest to the smallest
Each piece of glass cut and stained to take full
And glorious advantage of the light

I walked in reverence
I did not dare disturb the peace with my wings
And I walked for a long while

Until I reached his room
And the Sky Emperor was on his throne
The wooden throne was larger than most castles
And on both sides rose fires taller than most mountains

Dressed in gold and green
He bore the signs
Of a million ancients
Only a few I had heard of

?Little bird,?
He said below mustache
?What brings you so high and so far?

?I come for your fabric my emperor
I wish to have a piece.?
I wanted to say all of it in my heart
But the Sky Emperor was fearsome in his dominance of the mind

?My fabric,
My fabric with which I use to make the clouds,
Do you not know little bird
That to take a piece is to take it all??

I nodded
?Such is the nature,
So I had heard.?

?And you dare
To come to me, The Sky Emperor
And ask for my cloth with which I weave the clouds??

I do not know what it was
Perhaps pride
Perhaps stupidity
Perhaps I had been reduced to delirium
By my fear of the Sky Emperor
Or my fear of failing my love
Or perhaps the fear of failing myself


?I do ask, Emperor,
And I will have it
For I feel you do not need it anymore?

The reaction he gave
Was not the one I was expecting
He sat back in his throne and smiled
?Then here it is my bird, come and get it.?

He pulled out a long ribbon of the clearest color
A flowing crystal substance
Held by his thumb and fore finger

The beauty drove me mad
And before the thoughts could sit in my head
My wings thrust and I forwarded towards him

My rashness must have caught him off guard
For I had a hold of the ribbon
Before he could react

But he did react
His fist swung and sent me flying
Into the bonfire beside him

Spinning towards it
I used the ribbon
To wrap myself in soft clouds

But holding it in my beak
Half my head was still exposed
My face burnt wickedly in the fire

My feathers pealed away
And it seared the corners of my eye
I pushed my self out of the fire as quickly as possible

Taking flight
I flew faster and harder than I ever had before
I tempted a look behind

The Sky Emperor was still on his throne
Sitting
Smiling

The doors to the castle were left wide open
The lion and the dragon nowhere to be seen
I burst out of the palace like a cat from the water

I pushed faster and faster
Over the lands I had crossed a few moments before
The morning sun now making it?s way to afternoon

Past the mountains of erstwhile
Past the lake of Ganna-hoy
Towards the cherry orchard
Where my love and I lived

At first I thought my one eye
Was deceiving me
A storm with no clouds consumed the orchard

I could barley get within meters of my home
The rain and the wind blew with such fierceness
And it seemed to rage forever

I cried to my lover
But was met with thunder in return
I cried again and the lightning echoed me

And then
As quickly as the fire burnt my eye
The storm was over

Cherries and branches lay on the ground
I barley noticed them as I raced towards our tree
I came to the middle of the vast orchard

No trees had fallen in the horrible storm
That is none
Except mine and my lovers

Its dark roots had been burst from the ground
Its upheaval swift and violent
I hurried closer Chirping as best I could with the fabric in my mouth

?My love, My love?
Coming closer
?I have returned are you safe from the storm?
Our nest must have fallen
But we can make it better than before
I have brought...?

I came next to the tree
And saw those brilliant gold wings of hers
Slightly sticking out from beneath the trunk

The fabric fell from my mouth
And tears streamed from my one good eye
I made sorrowful noise for long hours

The man who owned the orchard
Came out to observe his one fallen tree
And made praises to his ancestors
In thanks because only one tree fell

As he was about to leave for his axe
He saw a small ribbon on the ground and picked it up
And walked back towards his house

I do not know what he did with the ribbon
I cried there till midnight became mid morning
But left before he returned to chop up his tree

That is the nightmare I had once.
Sire,
You know that grit?
The sand you sometimes get in the corner of your eyes
After a long night of sleeping?

Some say that it is our nightmares
Trying to escape from our vision and become reality,

They say
If you drop that sand in the fires of a living god,
Then your nightmare will grow and become true,

Not many know for sure,
For not many can fly high enough above the clouds,
To touch the fire of the gods

[This message has been edited by hermes (edited 01-04-2001).]

[This message has been edited by hermes (edited 01-04-2001).]
 
This one is a couple months old. Wanderer was asking about longer stuff, this is the longest non script form thing I have written for about half a year.

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for there are brighter sides to life,
And I should know because I've seen them,
But not very often...
 
It's very nice...epic poetry really. What's the greek myth..Iccarus? Trying to escape the palace, but he flew to high. That's what it reminded me of.

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"It's the stuff, it's the stuff of country songs, but I guess it was something to go on" - U2 - If God Will Send His Angels

"We're gonna live forever" - OASIS - Live Forever
 
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