Eulogy of a Dream Where has it gone? That fragile, delicate thing Translucent hope of a future cherished deep inside That hope of being something beyond the everyday Teeming masses marching on Through the one way streets That thought of growing wings To find another way Of living day to day with beauty and with joy Bringing light and energy Tingling through the veins of all who watch Balanced Poised Suspended For but a moment of eternity . . . . . . Released! Soaring, singing, flying, loving, living, breathing, Liquid light reflecting Qualities more perfect, raising The sight of all. Where has it gone? That fragile, delicate thing Splitting light and energy Flashing colors o'er everything - The Dream.

Return sitting in the gray rain dripping running streaming down the window pane. book open, eyes unseeing memory of something long ago and far away or was it only yesterday that i lost something? flashes of memory - a prism of sorts - stained-glass impressions in my mind alone remaining now fading; now fading; now - all has faded to gray. is this, then, my fate, non-negotiable? to sit, to wait, to do nothing, think nothing, live nothing, ex nihile venit - a void? a void. muted; stifled. i cannot live like this, the soul rebels. bound and silent, the soul rebels with a soundless cry for - what? something comes - fluttering hope. fades again, but - comes back persistently, not to be brushed aside a smaller wish all but ignored in past days gradually showing it was the one all along surprising me by how naturally it fits - it fulfills, contents, gives meaning, brings purpose (muted color rising like an illuminated text bursting, in spots, into vibrancy - Joy.) This is my fate, non-negotiable, is His plan for my life - is my Dream.

The End

(c) 2002
By Meredith Briski
All Rights Reserved

Meredith Briski is currently attending a no-name, state-funded Institution of Higher Learning in Northern Ohio, and remains one of the few ants still struggling to keep their chins and eyes tilted upward under the overwhelming weight of Modern and Post-Modern Literary Interpretation. She is the author of numerous essays of little value or importance to the World in General and one little story which she has offered up, a sacrifice such as Abraham's, and which has, to the wonder of all the kindly eyes hopefully watching its progress, been gently but firmly grasped by the graceful beings who have gone before and offer hope at the end of the four-year tunnel. While not laboring under either English courses or delusions of the oddest sort, Meredith enjoys dancing, historic costume design, and working with both Campus Crusade for Christ and a student Right to Life organization.

Illustration - "Between Dreams" (Acrylic on Panel)
(c) 2002
By Edward Shuman
All Rights Reserved

Edward Shuman is an art student at the University of Kentucky.