EPIPHANY

ω

      Once upon a time I dreamed
          I dreamed there was a once upon a time
          I dreamed with the mind that dreams
          I dreamed in the darkness of dreams
          I dreamed the delusion of dreams
          I dreamed was asleep and dreaming
          I dreamed a dream in the depths of a dream

      Once upon a time I dreamed
          I dreamed a dream within a dream
          I dreamed a dream dreaming a dream
          I dreamed and was lost in a dream
          I dreamed a dream in a dream
             of the sorrows of birth and death
          I dreamed a breath outgoing
             had no dream of an incoming breath

      Throughout my giddy-paced time
          I strutted my reason and rhyme
             like a phantom floating
          whisked away in a wink
             from the lapis lazuli home
          where life is fleeting and fragile
             more flimsy
                than bubbles of foam

      Once upon a time I dreamed
             of present mirth and present laughter
             a dream of birth with no hereafter
          I dreamed a dream
             with the wind and the rain with hey and ho
          I dreamed a dream
             that that is, is — the world begun
          I dreamed a dream
             but that’s all done a great while ago
                Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
          Say it again above the din the pomp and show
                Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

          The worldwide seekers of peace
             with their bland brands
                of human-ism delirium
                   catastrophically
                      underestimate
             the darkness of dreams
             the darkness of delusion
                   which manifests
             in greed maddened rampaging rage
                   ignorance and hate
             the fundamental darkness innate
                   as is the reality
                of original enlightenment
                   inherent in the dreamers
                who are asleep and dreaming
                   the dream within the dream

      Once upon a time I dreamed
          I dreamed I was dreaming a dream
          I dreamed I had been dreaming
          I dreamed of dreaming a dream
          I dreamed a dreamy dream
          I dreamed a dreamer’s dream
          I dreamed of a ceaseless self
             within the self
                within the self
             I dreamed of my self
          I dreamed I would awaken
             awaken from the dream of death and birth
          I dreamed I would be born and die
             on an endless inner enlightened earth

      Once upon a time I dreamed
          I dreamed a dream of inspiration
          I dreamed a dreamer’s aspiration
          I dreamed I would not speak
             the babbling gossip of the air
          I dreamed I would not write
             wild words and ornate phrases
          I dreamed I would borrow
             the language used in dreams
      I dreamed I would entice
             the dreaming people to awaken
          I dreamed the dreaming people
             would awaken from the dream
               So on and on I go
               Nam-myoho-renge-kyo



 
      ~ Harley White

White Swan Lake in the Rocky Mountains, located in south-eastern British Columbia
Credit: Gerhard Lenz