I Will Tell You This Dream Is Full of Light

A very long time ago,
on the side of a mountain,
there lived a man.
He walked amidst flowers,
eagles soared above.

One day he found a girl lying beside a rock.
She was nearly dead of a snake bite.
Just leave me! she hissed.
He carried her home.

He made a fire.
The girl slept.
She dreamed of horses thundering through valleys,
lions jumping down cliffs,
a five-headed snake and a warrior who would save her.

She awoke.
The man painted.
She awoke.
The man stoked the fire.
She awoke.
The man made tea.

What is this dream?

She drank his potion, let him feed her boiled roots.
She missed her family, yet she stayed.
She regained her strength.
They went for walks to the river.
He smiled but never laughed.
His eyes were blue and shone with light,
and when he looked upon her, she looked down.

What is this wild dream?

Her family came looking for her.
She awoke from afternoon sleep and heard them.
She wanted to run but he held her hand, softly.
She wept.

It is beautiful, in the heartbreak there is beauty.

She walked down the mountain, collapsed into her father's arms.
Her hair was braided and adorned with feathers.
They saw she no longer belonged to them.

They made camp.
Her sister found berries.
At dawn he came, cloaked in bearskin.
Her heart leaped,
but she returned with her family to her homeland.

Some nights she would dream of him,
they would be birds flying in the night sky,
bear cubs swatting at butterflies.

She grew older, collected water with the women,
watched her friends get married and bear children.
She climbed to the ridge at night and spoke with the stars.
You will never see him again, they said.

She married the son of a hunter.
She learned to tame horses
and tore across the land on their backs,
always returning.

I will tell you that this dream is not easy,
I will tell you that it is full of light.

When she died she was an old woman,
and when the stars came down to escort her,
they descended robed in vines and flowers.

I cannot take you with me, she said to her loved ones.
But do not forget me, for I will make a home in your hearts.
She left and the earth shimmered,
the angels sang and the horses shook their manes.

But please don't think too much about it.
Please stay quiet and remember the cave,
the eyes that would slice through fire.
Please dream without ceasing.