What Do Dreams Mean,
If Anything?
One night recently
before sleep and after giving thanks
i wondered if i have concentrated
too much lately on cosmic consciousness.
This was, in effect, a pleas for guidance.
I am always on a voyage of discovery.
In my poems, i worry if i am preaching
to others rather than inquiring for myself.
On this particular night i dreamed.
In my dream i was walking lost
in an uninhabited wilderness area
of canyons and mountains.
It has not been unusual for Louise and i
to dream lately about driving on unfamiliar
roads which diminished to wild cow paths.
In this recent dream she was not with me.
I came upon a man sitting beside the trail.
I asked if he could direct me so that i could
find my way out of the wilderness.
He said, “I was hoping you could tell me.”
We followed this trail together.
We came upon a parking area
at the end of a gravel road.
There were a number of people milling about
and picnicking in family groups.
We each started asking these people
for directions; but we soon discovered
they were all lost and had run out of gas
trying to find their way back.
A big truck belonging to the forest service
drove into the lot. They had food and blankets
because they were searching for some families
who had been reported missing.
We all began eating and asking
the rangers where we were and how we
could find our way home.
The rangers said they had become lost
and disoriented while trying to find us.
My new friend and i got in the truck
and went with them as they tried to find
a paved road. Before nightfall the road
diminished and they finally ran out of gas.
We climbed to the top of a ridge.
From there we saw a super highway
with many eighteen wheelers
moving along and shining headlights.
Then i awoke in my own bedroom
but i wondered what had happened
to all those lost families. I decided i could
only hope and pray for them, and i do.


Walt Abbott––12-11-08