The Dream Within a Dream

Dream within a dream’ ….by Atomic Mage

If in my dreams I may perceive myself to be

One who walks among gods and angels,

Or flies as free as the owl between midnight trees,

Or that I dine at the tables of the wealthy and elite,

That I love with all my heart famous kings and queens –

Then can it be true to say I have experienced all this

In an essence, as though I were fully awake?

And what if, when I awake, I suddenly understand

That the reality I inhabit is one where I stand

Among devils and thieves, that I am incarcerated

Like the canary in a cage against my will;

That I pluck bones from poor broth with fellow proles

Ten pounds the heavier for the sweat and the dust

That clings to our skin from a day’s gruelling toil,

And that my only love is the common rose?

Yet, what if…