In conclusion I give the dreams of a single night:--First, a drunken man and
girl in the same team; I think they should not be there. Then I am on a
porch looking off at a headland with ice at the foot. Farther up the hill
are quantities of ice--a sheet of it over the ground and in one place it is
as if water had been poured and allowed to freeze. In the midst of this
last, which is not on the hill, is a fine and shapely tree with the ice
about it very smooth and shining and slanting somewhat. I think it is a good
place for skating. In the morning as I recalled this dream, quite abruptly
into my mind came the remark of Philina in Wilhelm Meister, after seeing a
woman "great with child," "It were prettier if we could shake children from
the trees." Next I see far off high mountains with sunlight on the summits.
Then I am in a porch enclosed by a wire screen; by me is a woman. From the
window of a building outside, which seems to be a hospital without funds, a
woman looks at me. I want to see far off and shade my eyes with my hands.
I think I must cut the screen in order to see clearly. Then I see a rampart
and beyond it is the ocean. I hear a bird, a robin, on the rampart. Near
it is another bird, large, gray and strange. Then it is a rooster. The key
to this dream lies in the fact that the day before I received an appeal for
financial aid from a hospital and the printed request showed the picture of
a row of nurses each with a tiny baby in her lap. Finally I go into a
bed-room. On the bed is a baby. I uncover it and it moves and cries. It
wants its mother and I go to find her.
That the mind which dreams is not uncognizant of the hopelessness of its
aspirations is strangely indicated by the following for which at the time I
found no direct exciting cause:-- I see two long lines of seeds planted and
at the end of the rows tiny lettuce plants. Near by are apple trees in
blossom. But it is autumn.
Bergson at the close of his essay on dreams hints that the mind may
transcend its conjectured limits and be influenced in profound slumber by
telepathy. This is but an hypothesis which must long await verification. My
own dreams which apparently forecast the future are out-numbered by
erroneous forecasts and one vivid dream of the death of a friend though
coinciding as to the day, is not of great value as evidence as I had been
expecting the news for weeks, and further, beyond the surface portent the
dream is remotely allied in certain details with more personal and vital
memories.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account