Dream Universe

Sometimes when I’m dreaming

I can’t tell if I’m asleep

Or awake

This one dream

I felt euphoric

Pain didn’t exist

Depression didn’t exist

Anxiety didn’t exist

Just me

And all of my dreams

Then I woke up

But I was still dreaming

Except this time

All I felt were the numbing pains

That I wished away

All of my dreams

Slipped through my fingers

And I was left

Feeling empty

I was dreaming

Inside of a dream

A dream that I wanted to wake up from

But I couldn’t

Because I felt so awake in my dream

That I continued to dream a nightmare

For far too long

I lived life in this dream

A life I’ve always tried to run away from

When I woke up

I saw myself

Praying that the nightmare

Was just a nightmare

And not my worst fears

Coming true

That’s the craziest part about dreaming

Sometimes

It feels so real

Was it real

Or was my dream self

Awake

In another universe

Was my dream self

Experiencing

Life

Just not this one?

-Alyssa Leary Ettinger