Queen of Dreams



The Dark Before the Dawn —wallpapertime.com

 Demons in the Dark

God, grant me energy and courage equal
to my aspirations....

In the deep deep dark in the hour before the
dawn, the demons being desperate, their power
waning like the night... in the deep deep dark
before the dawn, the demons fight in desperation
for my spirit. They are weary, and their subtlety is
spent, but they are hungry, too. They fear to go
home empty-handed. They invade my dreams as
easily as snakes slip through a slender opening
between two rocks, though they, the demons,
never could have entered without my permission.
They’re oblivious to this, of course. Sometimes
they’re more laughable than fearsome. They’ve
run out of clever ploys and so this way and that
they chase me, ‘round and ‘round, and I escape
eventually. It’s only, after all, a dream and I’m the
queen and I could dream them into soot and
ashes and perhaps next time I will. I’ll dream
them into daylight, which is fatal to them... not
that they are living, technically....

Here’s the thing with demons: They’ve no power
of their own. They borrow it from people’s fears
of growing, of their aspirations unpursued, the
talents they’re not making use of. They’re the energy
that builds whenever someone says, “I should,” “I
will,” and doesn’t. When that someone turns
around and aims for glory, he reclaims his energy,
she needs all of her strength, and when she calls
upon it, doesn’t it immediately drain then from
the demon and become available? Thus do
demons turn to others, indiscriminately so. They
have no way of knowing who is vulnerable,
whose power they can have by pulling on a good
intention, like a bit of yarn that when you tug on
it the garment ravels.

It is a simple matter to protect yourself: Be who
you are, according to your spirit. Act on your
good intentions. Do the small things. Call your
niece this very second. Write a letter to the editor.
Give lilacs to Marie next door. Now do the large
things. Can you possibly believe that God created
you with talents so that you could waste them?

Ah, but who am I, the queen of dreams,
to give advice? I’ve yet to try
my own wings, I am that afraid of heights.