Poem – D-Dream (By Yuan Changming)

D-Dream

 

When I was a dream child, I dreamed of all that was dreamable, including a remarkable ancestor in particular, whom I wished to have so that I could brag about to my playmates. However, as I grew older, I learned that my grandfather had left us nothing but an obscure family name, while my father was no more outstanding than any other in the street. So, I began to dream about attaining enough fame, wealth and/or power to become someone in my own right.

 

Alas, despite a thousand weeks of psychological and physiological hardships in the past, I have come only to prove myself as ordinary as my father and grandfather, whom I have been striving so hard to emulate and, to my greater dismay, that my sons are even lesser.

 

Now I still dream from time to time. In the most memorable one, I finally come to good terms with my mediocrity. After all, being nobody is a standard form of human being, perhaps no less than another form of nirvana.

 

Author Bio: Yuan Changming

Yuan Changming published monographs on translation before leaving his native country. Currently, Yuan edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include ten Pushcart nominations, eight chapbooks & publications in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17) & BestNewPoemsOnline, among 1,609 others across 43 countries.