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 he dream came as it always does, taking me by surprise, shocking me with its vividness. But, as always, it was different this time, the characters remained the same but the circumstances, the plot, the screenplay....all that was different.This time it was my funeral. It was an appropriately solemn affair for all who were in attendance. All the usual players were dressed in the traditional black, there were hugs, kisses and tears... all but one person. Strange as it seems, and as odd as it sounds, it was me who was laughing. I was some-one else but I was me at the same time, this person who was me was a stranger, a new player who's body I had stolen, perhaps to take an active role in this affair. I/he was dressed in white, I/he was telling my friends and family to keep a stiff upper lip, that my death wasn't that big of a deal, that the box that was the center piece of this drama contained a slab of flesh, the body only, the soul was....elsewhere. I knew in the dream where my soul was, it was in the body of this stranger, and as much as I wanted to tell everybody that I/he was me, I couldn't, something from outside of me/him was holding me back, changing the words I wanted to say, not letting me/him tell the truth. The funeral progressed, we all took or seats and listened to the Bishop give the eulogy, that in it self was strange, the funeral was a catholic one. I'm not catholic, I'm actually not much of anything, a spiritual mongrel who switched beliefs and faiths as some people change their clothes. My body, the one I now occupied continued to grin and snigger throughout the ceremony. I wanted him to stop, I wanted me to stop but I/he wouldn't, or couldn't. The there was a flash and the dream progressed, we were at the grave site, but I was not to be put in the ground, instead my body was hoisted from its box, attached to a long pole and ran up, in much the way you would hoist a flag. This made me/him laugh harder... the audacity, the inappropriateness of it all, it became to much. I woke then, the last image was that of my parents, dressed in Military garb, saluting my body as it swayed in the wind. I think I'll call my Father today |
