A Dreamy Life

Dreams always end before their time.
Surely some things are real, not only in mind;
Nightmares are lovely as soon as I'm awake.
Only a rebel will trek across a sickly lake...

I leave the house wearing only my skin,
I set my gaze to the treeline across the yard.
Run down farmhouses shoo me away as they sigh;
Familiar clamor is abandoned with shallow regard.

The snapping of leaves greets me along with snowfall.
Shadows replace skies, the tiny flakes sparkle so bright;
They land upon my sable hair, creating a dreary brilliance.
I may not smile but I don't feel the distant frigid bite.

A saunter through the forest - only trees for friendship,
My footfalls twist the ground into a glossy onyx granite.
Wind does not exist in this place but for my breath,
The eerily enchanting stillness is not at all like my planet.

A clearing ahead with a glassy pond amidst the abyss -
Cryptic fascination works each of my heart's strings;
I'm forced beyond the shores and upon the mirrored surface,
I glance down at a reflection, clearly mine but with ebon wings.

My feet have stopped while I stare down at my likeness.
Across the pond I sense a figure wander toward me;
It looks like me but with immaculate white hair.
Nothing feels strange but I could not have foreseen.

Words are not exchanged for we are the same;
We touch hands as if it were through glass.
The world loses its color like an unfinished cartoon,
And worry yields to euphoria born from a ludicrous impasse.

I begin to know that I'm asleep,
And when I wake I'm sure I'll weep,
Inside a dream I just can't keep.
From this trance the rapture seeps...

Gravity loosens it's hold upon us both.
Our wings have no use when there's no breeze,
Me and I float back to consciousness,
A gasp let forth and my feelings seize.

It's too cold for a sunny summer day.
I snap out of languor and out of bed,
Over to my window where my eyes beheld:
Snow falling through the ground, the sky is red.

It feels strange but somehow I'd foreseen,
And it seems as though I now live in dreams.
Bestowed by thoughts I'm unsure are mine,
Fantasy leaks into life through nameless seams.

I have to ask, what are nightmares, truly?