"Awakening" by Erik Hunger

Awakening

I sat up and looked in the corner of the room
bedsheets sliding, falling to ground
and there lay a shimmering, glimmering portal
to take me off to some distant land.
I stood and I stretched and I knew I must go
to wherever this doorway might lead
and dance on the dew specked grass with bare feet
to live like the richest pauper king.
I swear that my eyes never left it, not even for just a bit.
It was there, it was real, I felt it
But suddenly it seemed like just 'nother dream
pale figments of night to vanish with day
T'was then I heard laughter from the other side, and turned
the sound enchanting, high, and amused
I knew not what to make of this fae vision in my room
awash in thoughts of reality and wonder and dream
And then mother called from across the house, cross with me
for not waking more quickly, as I'm wont to do
I called out to her and turned quickly back, already knowing
exactly what I'd see. Pale dreams and mist
a wondrous style but no form, a fast fading echo of dreams
and fading remembrances long past.
So I turned and I left and was quiet 'most the day
my thoughts slowly churning as I sleepwalked through life.
I know aught of reality, no hidden knowledge or lore
to grant me such wondrous visions on call
and though I wonder often when I've time, between tasks
What was true and what's not. Substance or fancy?
I cannot help it, cannot answer such questions myself
so I'm stuck wondering the same as you
Was it real, what I saw, or just a waking dream?

             -Lanir