REM Embers

REM sleep is where dreams happen.  What we remember of those dreams are somewhat like embers in a fire.  While they are hot, they don't provide much light.  I took the two and combined them REM+embers=Remembers...the hardest part of a dream can be remembering it.  This was a fun, dreamish piece to write.

Standing on the edge of eternity, I glance at my watch.

How long have I been here? It can't be more than a few minutes.

Instantly, I am standing near a bustling boulevard.

I make eye contact with the passengers as they hurriedly inch by.

Why does everything in the fast lane pass so slowly here?

Attempting to wave, my arm is pinned to my side. How?

Suddenly everything's gone and I am back on that unfamiliar edge.

I notice my aloneness, my arm frees.

Too late to wave, I check my watch again.

It has been hours since my last chronological inquiry.

Stranded now, in my own mind, images begin to emerge.

They are purple then orange then yellow.

They appear to dissolve into each other - bicycles?

Why bicycles of all things? Turtles would fit this place.

They would slow my watch down.

I recall but for a moment where I was earlier.

I was getting a haircut just off the square in my hometown.

The smell of bay rum and "hair-isols" (I chuckle at this).

The hum of clippers "lowering the ears" of a young boy.

I close my eyes - I am that boy.

Snip, snip. Hum, hum. "Hair-isols" and bay rum.

Eyes still closed, I twitch. Dozing?

I am standing on the edge of eternity - again.

My watch has stopped.