The Fairytale Wakes

11 - The Dreamer

They'll tell you I slept, yes, but what they won't say

Is that I dreamed. Long, hard, dreams.

Dreams of broken corridors

Of empty palaces, of flying and falling

Of running from shadows

Following behind, of broken teeth.

Of dragons howling

Their dominance to the sky.

Dreams where I couldn't wake

To see your face. Dreams of you.

A hundred years the thorns curled around

I dreamed of your parents meeting, their first kiss

The night they made you, soft and slow, the night

You were born, crying out to the world, not knowing

That at the same time, the dragon roared.

I dreamed of you crawling, walking, growing

Until you rode up to my castle.

I dreamed I was with you, guiding your blade

Leading you through the thorns, I dreamed

I was with you, laying your snare for the dragon

I was with you when the fire blossomed, when the heat

Whipped the air past you, I dreamed

I threw my shoulder behind that final thrust with you

Down into the belly of the dragon, up into the heart.

I dreamed that I held you while you wept

Over your fallen friends. And then I dreamed

I was with you as you climbed my tower

Climbed it with sorrow and grief and rage

Climbed it with hope and want and love

I dreamed I reached up and kissed you first

Until I was there, no longer dreaming.