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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