Flying Dreams
One day the brown chameleon wakes up blue
but I can only change my clothing
shop for every color of the rainbow
and stuff my closet overfull
Someone is always left out
in the game of musical chairs
and we are all as exposed as the naked emperor
who thought he was dressed in fine clothes
One day the cocooned pupae wakes up with wings
and an urge to fly 11,000 feet high
I wake up with a head full of unexamined dreams
like a kaleidoscope of monarchs hanging from a tree
When we were kids we believed
we were angels in training
and the wing bones on our backs were proof
We propelled ourselves in dreams about flying
but let no leg hang over the bed
Now we have insurance to scare off our fears
We save paper money to buy faraway
The monarchs are pretty but so short lived
We don’t have those flying dreams anymore
_____________Colleen Redman July 12, 2013 __________dVerse Poets Pub
July 15th, 2013 4:38 am
I love this, Colleen….! I love all the imagery…It Is Perfect!
As to my hair—-it has to be genes…..there is some gray, but it pretty much still looks dark, as it always has…..!
July 15th, 2013 8:19 am
Love this poem! Love you!
July 15th, 2013 2:34 pm
Lovely imagery in this, but a little sad at the end!
July 15th, 2013 2:43 pm
Yes, it does have a sad note to it. I challenged myself to go there and not to tie it up pretty. And I really don’t have those kinds of flying dreams anymore, not the metaphoric kind of flying dreams but the ones where we are actually experiencing flying.
July 16th, 2013 3:17 pm
its kinda sad that we dont have the same dreams any more…someone else wrote about kids not growing up with the same dreams….joanna…i like how you wove so many different things in here…the unable to change clothes and ending up like th emperor esp…truth.
July 16th, 2013 3:37 pm
nice stretch. dverse is good for you. my fav bits:
” an urge to fly as high as 11,000 feet
I wake up with a head full of unexamined dreams”
“we were made to be angels
and the wing bones on our backs were proof”
“Now we have insurance to scare off our fears
We save paper money to buy faraway”
July 16th, 2013 4:26 pm
It is sad when we ‘grow up’ and stop letting ourselves dream. Imagine if MLK had not had a dream, or if the USA had not dreamt of putting a man on the moon, or if Nelson MAndela had not been able to dream of a post-apartheid South Africa, or …
Dreams are so important. Without dreams, what would we ever achieve?
July 16th, 2013 6:07 pm
A well done poem, sad though. But there are lots of ways to fly no matter who you are orhow old and you’ve discovered one by writingt this poem.>KB
July 16th, 2013 6:35 pm
Colleen, beautiful images that left me feeling a bit sad reading that final stanza. Too bad we grow up and let go those dreams. Wonderful expression.
July 16th, 2013 8:32 pm
Awesome writing and imagery.
I actually could never live out my childhood dreams. I wanted to be a dinosaur.
July 16th, 2013 8:45 pm
“I wake up with a head full of unexamined dreams”
praying that dreams of flying return
new wings built to soar
July 16th, 2013 9:11 pm
Loved this poem, and especially
I wake up with a head full of unexamined dreams
like a kaleidoscope of monarchs hanging from a tree
– & I do still have those flying dreams sometimes… 😉
July 17th, 2013 12:11 am
it’s sad when so many of our dreams just die on the way from childhood to grown up.. and all the clothes of the world cannot do those lost colors justice… ah…let’s start dreaming again..
July 17th, 2013 12:33 am
Wow, Colleen! That is a very moving and meaningful poem!
July 17th, 2013 11:34 am
Thank you, Yvonne! It really expressed a kernel of deep truth for me and was able to tap into some of my grief over loss (of innocence, time, people etc.).
July 17th, 2013 11:20 pm
Wow, I really love the imagery and the truths in this- flashing back to fear of not letting any limbs hang over the bed! That was good…all of it!
July 18th, 2013 2:56 am
This is deeply beautiful.
July 18th, 2013 10:03 am
[…] 4. When we were kids we believed we were made to be angels / and the wing bones on our backs were proof / We propelled ourselves in dreams about flying / but let no leg hang over the bed … Read this poem, Flying Dreams, in its entirety HERE. […]
November 16th, 2016 5:05 pm
[…] 8. Someone is always left out / in the game of musical chairs / and we are as exposed as the naked emperor / who thought he was dressed in the fine clothes – From Flying Dreams, a poem I wrote in 2013. Read it in its entirety HERE. […]
December 1st, 2016 8:30 pm
[…] 12. When we were kids we believed that we were angels in training / and the wing bones on our backs were proof / We propelled ourselves in dreams about flying but let no leg hang over the bed / Now we have insurance to scare off those bogeymen and paper money promises that can’t buy time / The monarchs are pretty but so short lived and we don’t have those flying dreams anymore … Read my poem Flying Dreams in its entirety HERE. […]