Dream Eater

The vision I’ll tell you is real,

It is of a dark horse that prowls in the night

And dreamers are its only meal.

I encountered this being on a plane,

Far beyond that of this world.

We walked on clouds of starry rain,

The screams of the wind around us whorled.

It told me that it was unsatisfied,

That no nightmare could give it its fill.

It asked me why I dream,

What the dredges of my mind like to build.

I nodded and offered it one thing,

“Let me show you what it is like.

To be a human falling asleep,

Subject to the emotions of the mind.”

First, I took it to the lake,

Filled to the brim with tears,

And said when I can’t fall asleep,

I find myself swimming in here.

“Why would you want to feel sad?”

It asked me, with a voice like crests of an ocean.

I said, “Because my despair highlights the bad,

And reminds me of a better emotion."

"Have you swum in your sadness?”

I asked the shadowed being.

It shook his head with remorse,

“I have only eaten dreams of grief."

"Tell me, what is it like?" It said,

"What does it mean to feel?"

"Perhaps you can fix my problem,

Perhaps you can give me my fill?”

I nodded and took its hand.

It was no more than a stain in my palm.

I led him to the open fields,

Where happiness stirred among the calm.

The living grass reached for our bodies,

Wrapping around our legs,

“It’s sticking to me!” It cried.

I nodded, and said, “That’s how joy has its way."

"It latches to your skin,

Making itself ingrained in your flesh,

So it becomes a drug in your life,

So no other emotion can mesh.”

“How horrible!” It cried,

“How will you ever be free?”

“But that is the point, dear creature.

Joy is to be felt and not seen.”

“A drug it is," I explained,

"And a trap it may be,

But nothing makes me feel more alive

Then when joy abandons me.”

“What could you mean, human?

The creature looked at me in shock.

“Searching for joy is the meaning of life," I said,

Until we meet the end of our mortal clock.”

The creature seemed to ponder this,

As I continued to lead it along.

We entered a volcanic region,

The acidic winds beating against us were strong.

“What else can you show me human,

If we have reached the meaning of life?”

“There are things that get in the way, dear creature,

Perhaps things that contribute to your strife.”

We looked to the sky of red,

The fiery storm clouds above.

Something surged in the darkness,

Something made the creature lunge.

“What is this terrible place?" It asked,

"Why did you take me here?”

“For the very emotion you’re feeling,

Welcome to the realm of fear.”

“I do not feel such things,” the creature scoffed,

“No such emotion could touch me.”

“Is that not why you came then?” I asked.

“Because you fear what makes you empty?”

The silence was palpable then,

The starry rain breaking through.

It landed on the skin of the creature,

It’s black started to turn blue.

“Perhaps you are right, little human,

Eating dreams is not all I do.

Perhaps understanding them is the start

To experiencing my existence anew.”

“There is substance to the things you consume,”

I explained, my heart beginning to glow.

“Please remember in the end, dear creature,

It means more to seek than to know.”

“Perhaps next time you consume,

The dreams that you find,

Look for the emotions that flood them,

Understand the meal of the mind.”

The creature nodded at that,

As its form began to fade.

“Will you not eat my dreams then?” I asked,

And the creature shook its long mane.

“You have shown me more than I can bare,

And my dead heart is feeling a pull,"

“Perhaps it is to my next meal, but for the first time,

This dream has made me feel full”.