In a dream I once had there were a million of us, so numerous we covered all the lands and seas, and even blotted out the sun with our shadow. There was someone to my left and someone to my right. Even if they left their void would never be empty for long, for there was always another to take their place. And somehow I knew that even if I too vanished one day another would take my place. And that knowledge filled me with gladness.
In a dream I had there were a thousand of us, so plenty our footprints could bury mountains and our breaths steam the frozen winter air. There was someone to my left and someone to my right. Even if they left their void would not linger for too long, for eventually someone else would take their place. And perhaps I knew that even if I too vanished one day, so long as the sun still shone and the moon still rose it would only be a few years before another too my place. And that knowledge filled me with contentment.
In a dream I had there were a hundred of us, spread so far and so wide the tips of our shadows barely brushed each other. The void between us stretched far and infinite yet I knew there was someone to my left and someone to my right. Even if they left the space between us would not change, for what is a drop in a sea of grey, but the slight swelling of a too-long note? And maybe I even imagined that if I too vanished one day the mists would gather, and eventually fill in the hole I had left in the world. And that knowledge filled me with silence.
In a dream I had there were ten of us, and in the liminal space between night and day the grey mists rose and swallowed us. I could see neither hand nor foot nor the people to my right or my left, and their absence ached in a way I never knew. Even if they vanished I would not know, for what was there in this world, apart from the mist? What was there in this lonely plane but only me and the grey? And when I too inevitably crumbled to dust and vanished, what would there be left but the nothingness?
In a dream I had there were two of us. We stood side by side, right and left, our breaths the only warmth in a long-frozen world. The mists were there, we both knew, circling our legs and tracing our arms and brushing our cheeks with soft hands cool as winter, but so long as our hearts beat and our breaths mingled warm the cold would be held at bay. Even as ashes began crumbling from your fingers and your arms and started sloughing off your wan face like tears I thought we could continue like that forever. But as I watched your soft hair turned cold and brittle and your deft fingers snapped one by one and the breath that once mingled with mine crumbled to grey mist. And then there was only me, and when I too inevitably crumbled to dust and vanished, there was nothing left but the nothingness.
And that knowledge filled me with joy.
