An American Love

I dreamt of a Kingdom in the Sky
Teeming cities and purple mountains
Stretching far and rolling wide

I dreamt of a great foundation
Cradled in the arms of the fallen
A black and blue, a bloodied nation

I dreamt of blossoming fields
Oh, Earthy Mother
What sweet fruits she yields

I dreamt of false riches
Riven by grubby hands
Bodies that sleep at night in dirty ditches

I dreamt of heroes that flew
On the hopes of the Father
Whose wishes they surely knew

I dreamt of an american love
Weaving in and out, in and out
On the wings of the innocent dove

I dreamt of sweat drenched Pride
Hands holding weathered tools
They never let go, not even to die

I dreamt of bitter winters
Rivaled intensity only in
The summer’s splinters

I dreamt of Rivers coursing through like blood
Hot and wet and wild and strong
Splitting and caressing a mighty brood

I dreamt of ageless grace
Time boundless, bare
An angel’s face

I dreamt, holy water dashed across the ground
Rivulets through the cracks
Silence, the thunderous sound

I dreamt of blood-stained whips
Biting the skin, again, again
Till nothing is or was or could be but rips and dips

I dreamt of white and black stones
Grappling in a bitter dance
But bones are bones and bones alone

I dreamt of a Great Sorrow
Babies crying in the slums
And no food to borrow

I dreamt of a giant falling to his knees
“Oh,’ he cries, “help me.”
Help me, please

I dreamt a fissure occurred
“What was that?” “An end?”
Absurd

I dreamt of people, noble savages
Crawling and writhing
Like an enemy ravages

I dreamt of a sickness so quiet
“Lay, lay…lay down your arms”
Lay down in the endless night

I dreamt a slithering snake
Take, break, ache, rape
These desires you will slake

I dreamt of a forgetting
What is Pride in Work and Work in Pride
Oh, the hopeful begetting

I dreamt of people tumbling down, down
To where I slept and dreamt
Landing hard, without a sound

I dreamt a dream
The Kingdom of Kings
Ceased to be

And I wondered perhaps,
Had I dreamed even me?

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