Once upon a time in Time,
A man came panting to our town
His eyes were red and head tousled,
On his face was set a frown.
He said, “I have come from a land afar
To question you of your false fame, sire!
My feet are tired but my heart won’t rest,
Until I get my answers – oh, need is dire.
You are people of a town so great
You live and sell, and play with dreams
It is here that they are born, from here do come
Our hopes and goals and smiles and screams.
But I have been dreaming now a dream for long
It seems to meย like a thread without end.
I toss and turn and shoo it in sleep,
But it goes nowhere at all, my friend.
Tell me why you spun dreams so eternal
Why for us humans you did not care?
Our capacity to hold untold is controlled
We can only bear too much of despair.
O people of Dreamsville! You say dreams breed here
Why can’t you find for me a closure to this nightmare?”
Hearing his plea a woman from our town
Stepped forward, smiled, and began to speak:
“Dreams, my man, are portals to great truths
They surely aren’t much for those who are weak!”
“When we send you a dream, it is for you to complete
Interpret correct or not, but to follow its lead
When you see a dream that seems everlasting
Go ahead and nurture it with struggle’s feed.”
—
It’s almost 4 a.m here. It took me an hour to write this one but it’s important to me because I thought I could never write a ballad*. It’s not perfect but it’s a try, and it was FUN creating this whole thing. It is in response to our poetry challenge 201: Neighborhood, Ballad, Assonance for which we were supposed to write anything related to a “neighborhood” or sense of it, as a ballad like it was done in the formative years.
* ballads are dramatic, emotionally-charged poems that tell a story, often about bigger-than-life characters and situations, and their rhyme scheme is a-b-c-b.
Yay! I love it!
Thank you! (:
Very nice. Has great flow. Love the “Dreams, my man, are portals to great truths” line. And the one that follows!
Thank you so much! You are super kind!
You are welcome! ๐
One of the best I’ve read so far and true to the form and language of ballads. Made me wish I’m a native speaker.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am really glad you think so. (I’m not a native speaker either!) ๐
I had fun reading this. I read this aloud and loved the sounds emanating from some of the lines.
This was my favourite :
“Our capacity to hold untold is controlled”
I liked that line too. Thank you ever so much for your kind response. Brightened my day! ๐
As I said seven hours ago, your posts hit home so hard. I absolutely love these lines,
โDreams, my man, are portals to great truths
They surely arenโt much for those who are weak!โ
โWhen we send you a dream, it is for you to complete
Interpret correct or not, but to follow its lead
When you see a dream that seems everlasting
Go ahead and nurture it with struggleโs feed.โ
Because, being a dreamer, I know that the struggle is real. Hats off man.
Mahaahs, thanks so much! ๐
Marias, you’re welcomes so muchs. Haha. Keep shining bro.
This is beautiful! ๐
Thank you!
*hats off, cuz* you’re brilliant. There’s nothing amateur about this ballad.
Jazakillah! Zarrah nawaazi hai apki. x
Very impressive.
This is good even for a first try. Plus I like the topic and you’ve narrated it well.
Thank you so much. That means much to me. :’)
How do you do this? How?
HOW?
Presently I’m just hoping I can get it back. I love you for your constant encouragement and for how amazing you are, Hiba. Prayers. โค
You’re amazing too, Maria ๐
You’ll get it back, don’t worry. Just keep trying ๐
๐ everything good at your end?
Yup! (Sorta) ๐๐