Dreams (Session 3)

‘A’ Poem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

What happens to a dream deferred?

The world is never reborn. And hope shatters into a million fragments of floating miracles which pass through this dimension like dust from Eden that has not yet settled. This is because the Past, present, future, and the whole complexity of time revolves around you. And whatsoever you dream has something to say about the dimension of space and time. . . This is why birds making their nests on a tree are just dreams. Trees are dreams. Flowers are dreams. Rivers are dreams. And you too are a dream. You are God’s dream. There is a deep relationship; it is all one family. And so, if you go on building houses with three dimensions only, you will be building your life on sand. You will be stuck and you will spend a lifetime searching for light and you will spend your entire life chasing your miracle.

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?

You are living a meaningless life because you have lost the ability to recreate yourself. And your prayers are like a man shooting arrows in the dark not knowing where the target is.

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Now your life has become a shadow-life because you are living life in only three dimensions. And the third is a shadow of the fourth. Only with the fourth do you come home. Only through the fourth are you absolutely grounded in existence. Only in the fourth are you living God’s dream. Yet you are afraid to dream because [life] has brought you many disappointments. God knows your hopes have been dashed numerous times; that your dreams have been deferred. But still, you must dream.  .  .

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Dream of a world where little girls can grow up to be women who are not emotionally abused or prostituted or physically raped!

Dream of a world where little boys can grow up to be men who are not broken like their toys… who embrace their daughters and esteem their sons… who allow themselves to experience another emotion besides anger!

Dream of a world where the only Global warming is love!

Dream of rebirth and renewal. But don’t dream in color. Don’t dream in black and white. Dream in Light.

Dream dreams that heal eyes and cancers and Alzheimer’s and hurting hearts.

Dream so no one will ever need to open a Bible, a Veda, or a Quran again. For God never intended for man to simply read His word, His dream has always been for man to be His word.

Or does it explode?

This is the world we can all share if you transform yourself. And you may fail a thousand and one times, but if you go on, then success comes. It comes, certainly, because success is everybody’s birthright. It comes, certainly, because it is God’s dream for your life. You can have it, but you cannot have it cheap. You will have to pay more than pray for it. You will have to pay with your whole life. Less than that, it will be another dream deferred.

To be continued…