I felt her jerk awake

Lightpainting credit - Stephen Knapp, Risen Blue

I felt her jerk awake and heard her gasp!
      “What is it?” I asked. 
      “Same dream,” she sighed… 

“I’m on the edge, high up on a cliff;
      I’m cold, it’s windy,
      my hair is whipping. 

“I gaze out into space and I’m afraid;
      I see a door
      floating there, closed. 

“The door groans ever-slowly open;
      I glimpse a sky inside,
      above another world. 

“A whirling world of light like in a prism;
      refracting vibration 
      into vision.  

“The threshold isn’t very far away;  
      just a small step 
      beyond the ledge. 

“But I dread the chasm in between;
      it freezes me,
      the void below. 

“I know I’m dreaming while I’m in the dream. 
      I could wake,
      but I hesitate.  

“I wait with hope of knowing what comes next;
      will I step?
      So I stay. 

“Then a grey and ancient arm appears,
      to bridge across 
      the dark abyss. 

“The bridging withered hand takes mine in hers;
      she wears my rings,
      it’s comforting. 

“That’s when I awaken, every time!
      Never finding
      what I choose and why.” 

“Do you feel the meaning yet?” I asked.
      “Not yet,” she sighed.
      “You will,” I smiled. 

Then I curled behind her in the sheets,
      whispered my belief,
      and we went to sleep. 

Lee DeNoya - Taos 2021