They Tried to Warn Me

The serpent alerted me
boa sized terror disrupting sleep
I tried to push it back
but the beast insisted
“Keep driving forward, woman
I am at your side”

It came again
infiltrating my slumber
with a wide mouthed warning –
“I could consume you,
you better be ready”

Of course, I looked away.

It was a tiger next,
whose force, unmistakeable
sat upon my legs
rendering me inert
“You will pay attention”
he warned. No argument there

But how am to decipher
these nightly messages
the power of such beings
infiltrating my waking moments
am I going mad?

It would be the wolf
whose presence caught me
mid-flight, awake while dreaming
that startled me the most
“No time”, he said, “the moment is now”

And I awoke with a shudder
heart drumming an anxious tempo


and that’s when the letter arrived
telling me that we were finished
flesh of my flesh
no longer forgiving
and then the dog died
and I know that things come in threes
and the threads of my heart
barely holding on
can’t handle anything else
and my mind burns with questions

If only I’d paid attention
when that first snake appeared.

(Inspired by dreams. My art)

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VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

39 thoughts on “They Tried to Warn Me”

  3. Wow! Powerful poem. I see the current political catastrophe written all through this. And since the political is always personal, I can see how this might bleed into your personal affairs as well. Sometimes that sense of doom covers everything.

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  5. The snake is the unconscious. Such a misunderstood creature in waking life. Paying attention after the fact holds enormous value. I’ve experienced (and still do) great difficulty in communication with immediate family members. One holds on (to oneself) as best one can. What a rich dreamscape! I once took part in a dream-group, via email. It didn’t work for any of us very well so we disbanded. But I remember one dreamer who made space for the snake who grew too big to move through her dream works. So inspiring. Hang in there VJ.

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind works. I studies dreams in my final year of university, and have continued to honour them since. Fascinating, although I can’t always decipher the meaning. Making space for the snake sounds like a good idea.

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  12. The vivid imagery of the serpent and tiger in your poem is gripping. I love how you bring such a mystical energy to life through your words, making them both haunting and intriguing.

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