Sanaa invites the dVerse poet community to delve into their dreams as a rich source for literary expression. I have been attempting this the last little while and offer this nugget in the raw for self-edification more than anything!
I walked the long coast,
salt in my lungs,
hunger in my bones,
seeking a table not yet set.
The café was hollow,
a shell of welcome,
bare but for one alcove
where laughter gathered like tide.
I asked to sit
not knowing if I belonged
and they made room,
as if grace were a game
played by strangers
who knew the rules of kindness.
They spoke in riddles,
a missing word,
a misting truth,
and I, still faint from the walk,
asked if the question itself
was broken.
Is it “missing”
like a name forgotten,
or “misting”
like memory blurred by time?
And they nodded,
not with answers,
but with presence.
So I sat,
Stockman’s pie in hand,
and let the mystery feed me.
(c) Dennis Ryle, November, 2025
Wondering Pilgrim 
The lines in your poem meander like a long walk, Dennis, and I love the phrase ‘laughter gathered like tide. I’ve had a dream once in which people spoke in riddles – very disconcerting. Best to let the mystery feed you.
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Yes, the search for meaning can be tiresome – best to just lean into the mystery!
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This poem just flows – and that too so beautifully as we are led to contemplate what it means, the salt in lungs and hunger in bones. I read this twice!
Thank you so much for writing to the prompt ❤️❤️
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Thank you, Sanaa, for your kind words. I did appreciate this exercise.
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This is exactly what a wandering pilgrim may experience at a meeting place… answers are not the most important but the questions.
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Yes, questions are much more interesting and take us to different places than easy answers.
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Well done. Sometimes a decent dream interpretation involves keeping the dream pristine, not lettng language invade too far and respecting the mystery.
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Thank you, Brendan, agreed!
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Dennis, what a lovely dream. Affirmation that you are on a good journey, imo.
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Thank you, Lisa, much appreciated.
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You’re welcome.
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“but for one alcove
where laughter gathered like tide.”
How this poem satisfies, Dennis, like an arrival into mystery that unfolds in “riddles” according to the “rules of kindness”! Such dreams are enviable indeed.
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… and all too rare. 🙂 Thank you, Dora!
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