9.Dreamers

He was born in a city
where dreamers were
either hanged or crucified
and years later
their statues were erected
in the four corners of the city
He used to wonder
if dreamers knew
they would be hanged or crucified
why did they share
their dreams with others?
Whenever he asked this question
he was always told
in this city
not only is dreaming a sin
asking questions is prohibited too
When he studied
the lives of those dreamers
he found out
some were poets, others philosophers
some were scientists, others saints
he never met any of them
they were all turned into statues
As he grew older
he wished he could dream, too
first he felt scared
but then
the desire became so strong
he waited day and night
to have a dream
Finally one night
his wish came true
he dreamt that
he was a fish
swimming in his mother's womb
he had water all around him
gradually that body of water
kept expanding and growing
turned into an ocean
his mother
became Mother Earth
and one fish
multiplied into hundreds and thousands of fish
Those fish
lived and swam happily in the ocean
but then
they saw some islands
and dreamt of
walking on those islands
at that time
the vastness of the ocean felt smaller
Finally some fish
jumped out of the water
became turtles
and wandered around the islands
Gradually those turtles
turned into dozens of kinds of animals
those islands
turned into jungles
those animals lived happily in jungles
but then
they way trees and mountains
and dreamt of flying
so that they could sit on
tree branches and mountain tops
They started to jump
their legs became wings
they turned into birds
and flew everywhere
Some birds
dreamt of
embracing the sun, the moon and the stars
they flew higher and higher
turned into clouds
and wandered around in the skies
Finally those clouds
started missing Mother Earth
felt lonely
and cried
their tears turned into raindrops
When those clouds
touched mountain tops
they turned into snow
and cold winds transformed them
into snowmen
They started living on mountains
like men and women
had children and families
when they saw their children
shivering in the cold
they descended to the valleys
as rivers
and got divided into tribes
each tribe like each river
had a name and an identity
But those names and identities
made their lives miserable
words
created ethnic and linguistic and religious differences
in spite of being children of the same father
they became enemies
and fought wars for centuries
But then
in every nation and every tribe
some people were born
who were dreamers
some were poets, others philosophers
some were scientists, others saints
they told their people
our stories have
similar beginnings
and similar endings
we started our journey
in the ocean
and if we keep on flowing
in our ethnic, linguistic and religious wars
we will all meet
in the ocean of humanity
as we evolve
we will transform into Gods
let's dream together
as Gods are the only beings
that can dream
But those people
did not like what they heard
so they
either hanged them or crucified them
their poets and philosophers, scientists and saints
whose statues now stand
in the four corners of the city
When the river
joined the ocean
he saw the hundreds of thousands of fish
he had seen before
that ocean
gradually shrank
the fish disappeared
and finally he became a small fish again
and Mother Earth
turned into the womb of his mother
he felt as if
God was soon to be born.
When he awoke
he felt blessed
he had had his dream
but he also knew
if he shared that dream
what would be his fate.