fist of nothingness

[honeyskies]

"There was a child who dreamt
of a cardboard horse.
The child opened his eyes
and couldn't see the horse.
The child dreamt again
of a little white horse;
he caught it by the mane...
'Now you won't get away!'
Just as he had caught it,
the child woke up.
His fist was closed,
but the horse had flown.
This left the child
seriously thinking
little dream horses aren't real.
And he never dreamed again.
But the child became a young man
and the young man fell in love
and asked his beloved,
'Are you real or not?'
When the young man was old
he thought: It's all a dream--
the little horse dreamed
and the real horse out there.
And when death came foe him,
the old man asked his heart,
'Are you a dream?'
Who knows if he woke up!"

-Antonio Machado