I Have No Parachute

Those who know me well would know that I have a fixation with dreams, the genesis of which probably lies in the darkness of my own. My dreams have always been rather textbook - chased by monsters, pain & despair, and oh! the classic - a free-fall through infinite space. Falling is one of the most common themes of human dreams the world over. It's amazing how almost all of us can have dreams with the same recurring theme while having completely different life-experiences. In fact, falling dreams often begin in young children with little life experience to speak of. My father, the author, through his protagonist in Paper Boat, expounded an idea that he calls "Dream Chambers". The concept of which is that in our minds, we have 2 distinct dream chambers - the first we are born with and is like a pre-loaded hard disc with all the usual suspects - monsters & mayhem , ghosts & ghouls, falling & flying. The 2nd is unique to each of us and is slowly filled up over time with dreams that are spawned from our experiences and ideas. I think I subscribe to this concept as it does seem like we are pre-programmed with certain fears & fantasies. Which brings me back to Falling. One of the most common dream-themes, it is no surprise that I often am visited by dreams of this nature. And as always, here I pen my falling dream...

Blackened clouds swirling round,
Wind shrieking, pounding past my ears.
Rushing up, I sense, a hard cold ground,
Built on my sorrows, bound by my fears.

Falling faster, but - somehow slow,
Clutching at straws, I try to survive.
But I just can't seem to get a hold
on the fragments left of this so-called life.

Anchors heavy, tied to my feet.
Is it a wonder I'm hurtling down?
The ropes cut in - I start to bleed.
Blood - not scarlet; murky brown.

Look into my soul, you'll see the cause.
There's years of filth & disease in there.
Growing & spreading, sinking its claws,
tainting my blood, enrobing the air.

Closing my eyes, I wait for impact,
thinking of those I surely will miss.
But there is no denying the inevitable fact -
My sense was wrong - this is the abyss.