Vivid Dream

After watching Episode Nine of Mad Men, a swooping bird takes over my dream.

Vivid Dream

I was preoccupied, walking along the beach.
I didn’t notice the shadow circling over me.
Suddenly, I felt the weight of a swooping bird
Digging its claws into my shoulders.
I couldn’t scream I was so shocked.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed
A beautiful gray and white pattern on the bird’s left wing.
I couldn’t move.
In my head I tried to shake the bird off.
When I did, it turned into you.
Eyes ablaze, my blood reflecting in your inflamed irises.
A large knife in your hands.
Relentlessly, you stabbed at my neck,
Between the first two vertebrae.
Blood gurgled out.
I still couldn’t move.
In fact, I quieted down, inside.
I closed my eyes
And let you plunge the knife deeper and deeper.
I was going to just fall asleep, right there,
When something deep inside of me rebelled.
Suddenly I woke up with a gasp.
You’d vanished,
But I could still feel the sticky warmth on my neck.

Saffi Darsanac