climbing, jumping, flying

i want to fly. i want to dream of living a dozen vibrant lives and seeing colours that no one has ever seen before. i want to climb a vertical mountain with my hands alone, and when i reach the top, i want to leap off into the emptiness and soar out over a valley filled with mist and trees, trees reaching for the sky but stuck to the ground in a way that i've escaped. i want to make a leap of faith and fly.

i want my hand to sweep across the lives of millions, reaching into their minds and blowing life into dreams that spring up like a ship in a bottle, but my bottle will be invisible. i want to show people things they've never seen before, make them gasp with delight without ever knowing who i am, and i want to steal away into the night, taking woes with me, a smile twitching on my lips. a mischievous thief, a wondrous storyteller.

i want the world to stop screaming.

nights are dark, despite dreams taking me to new worlds. it's hard to beat away the shadows that roll in closer like choking smoke each falling of dark. we're all gasping and breathing through our shirts together, but the grey tint on the air tells us we're alone. the house is collapsing, now, and i'm the generation to see this day. we can pretend there's only smoke, and maybe a falling brick or beam will mercifully steal our consciousness with a fatal stroke before we can even realize what we've gotten ourselves into.

but dreams will come. this house burns down over the period of years, and each night as the final dark of sleep rolls in, the smoke rolls back in turn, and sunlight pierces the land around me. calming mist will soothe my soul, and i'll remember why we live and the nature of our destination, even if the boat is sinking.

real worlds will play out in my mind, flowing like a stalking tiger, scene by scene, breath by breath, and when i wake i'll have new stories to tell. dreams will come alive, in both senses of the word, and the grace of dreams will grant me the strength to scale mountains, so that i can make the leap of faith and sweep my shimmering hand across the land.

i will fly.