Thursday, March 16, 2006

Notice

Dreams die quietly, with little to-do. They fail to acknowledge your investment of time or tears. They fail to appreciate your hard work. You woke up this morning as you have woken up every other morning; then, in the afternoon, notice arrives in the mail:

I am dead. Dream another dream, if you dare.

And so, broken, you sit in front of a machine, another man's dream realized, and you gently, hesitantly, tap out . . . something. Plastic keys, arbitrary letters and words, are rallied together to make some sense. But even while they do, they don't. Not to you.

Ash and dust. Beauty? Where are you?

A nice letter, all in all. Clean and concise. Impersonal. The envelope lies torn open on the table. The letter has been neatly refolded and replaced. The dream too. Maybe dreams are not for you.

6 comments:

Alison Hodgson said...

I am really sorry to hear about your disappointment.

Since my dad's I have found there to be such power in mourning, to take the time to acknowledge a loss and to grieve it, to recommit my trust and only then, to move on.

truevyne said...

Sigh. Not much to say only that I've had dreams come true turn to nightmares...

Dan said...

I'm sorry about this disappointment. Don't give up just yet, Scott! There's plenty more fight in ya! I have a friend who's been a finalist for tuba positions in some of America's best orchestras. He continually advances in each audition, but doesn't win the big one. I wonder how he keeps it up. His answer to me? I'm one more audition closer to the one I'm gonna win, and I'm glad I got this one out of the way. I always like what Thomas Edison said about all of his failed attempts at the lightbulb: I now know one more way it won't work. Grieve for it, but keep dreaming! There WILL be an envelope that comes, filled with news and promise of better things to come. Of that, I am confident.

Anonymous said...

I have found that when the Lord shuts a door, He opens a window.

ScottB said...

I can't find a single thing to say. I know the feeling. Praying for you.

Anonymous said...

I think you're a really gifted writer. You can please some people, others you can't. You just have to find the right audience. Tan Publishers? Sophia Press?