Some Little Thoughts

Am I awake?
I look to see, but I cannot ascertain with surety.
How may one make such a determination
Without first, seeking counsel of one’s Maker?
Come old friend! Take me, gently, to Him who is infinitely greater! 

Cogito, ergo sum.
One learns this dictum when one is young.
But dreams are real and, clearly, I think while I sleep
As my mind races to extremes
And I perceive tangible things, things that I can touch, taste and smell … or so it seems. 

I stand upon a wind-swept shore.
Sand dunes guard the transition to green
And I see a starfish, washed onto the beach,
Drying in the sun, dying in the sun,
Perhaps, crying in the sun, unloved by all; loved by none. 

I ponder death.
I ponder unloved life.
I ponder lifeless forms, casting unclear shadows on a naked beach.
How may I save the life of a single, stranded starfish,
Lying on dry land? It is not a dream, but an ardent wish.

Dreams! What are they?
Are they life in a different form?
Perhaps, dreams are reality, transformed and turned into one,
Bleached by the heat of one time, which sears it,
Full body, until dry and, then, again, bit by bit. 

Life. Another dream.
Our sojourn in life is short – like memories. We forget to say that
Which ought be said, before memories fade, forever, and we are dead.
And, then, thoughts, like letters, wrapped in reams,
Containing fading images of dreams. 

The vision is nearly ended.
Sights and sounds, like a slideshow, race through my mind.
I think of past life, of past loves lost, of past chances missed,
Of life’s expansive wants and youth’s ambitious dream.
And, now, I die … or, is that, too, a dream; or, is it a dream about a dream?