The Dream at Bark Bay

The sea was the whole of the dream
and the full world of sound
to the pair in the tent,
their heads on the dune.

With eyes closed, up on the dune,
waiting for the unknown dream,
the sea was all the sound to the pair,
who heard, in the sea-sound rushing up the dune,
other sounds that were not the sea,
that were so deep within the sound of the sea
as to be the very dream of the sea,
and, rushing up the blushing dune,
became the dream of the pair.

As well, they heard sounds that were not the sea,
that were surrounded, dissolved into the dream of the sea,
that became the sea to the pair,
just as the sea, blushing up the sullen dune,
became the sound of the dream of the pair,
the sound of things that were not the sea,
but fully within the sea, the whole of the dream
and the full world of sound.

All sound promises motion,
and all things that move, move together,
as the dark sea face moved with the wind,
moved with the sound of the sea,
and the sand stripped from the constant dune
moved with the breath of the tent,
moved with the full world of sound,
led the dance of the dream of the pair.

The dream was the whole of the pair,
the promise of the sea to the pair,
and the pair in the tent were the dream of the sea,
rolling its deep sea-dream up the calling dune,
filling the tent with the whole of the dream
and the full world of sound.

The dream of the pair was the shivering of the tent,
the lightheaded dune losing substance
before the sound of the sea.
The touching skin of the pair was like dune and sea.
It was the the whole of the dream
and the full world of sound.

Ruben Mita

Ruben Mita is a poet, musician and ecology student in Pōneke. He has been published in multiple outlets and won the 2022 Story Inc. IIML Poetry Prize. He likes fungi, fires and some noises.