Recurring dream landscape

I return to the center of the city of my visitation.

An infinitely tall building rises up in a garden of trees.

Streets of houses, shops and neighborhoods surround it.

Doors exist on all sides; I have been inside often.

I am in a house crowded with people.

A preacher tells me he has watched me for years

and wants to know the secret I am hiding.

Everyone listens for my reply.

I say I am no one special,

I am just trying to live truths I’ve heard,

I struggle with perfection

and failure is my companion.

He persists, I reply

I will tell you, but only in private.

We go out in the yard; others follow us out.

I turn and say this conversation is not for a congregation.

In the corner of the yard, I stop and ask,

If the Messiah returned as a thief in night

and turned everything you believe upside down,

would you believe and change?

He smiles and proclaims, Yes.

I lean over and quietly whisper, He has come and gone

and has removed all power from the clergy,

every soul must investigate truth for themselves.

They are responsible for their own salvation,

His first counsel is to be kind

and you need to find another profession.

He stares at me trying to decide if I am joking.

I tell him the future is his, go live it.

I go back inside the house.

They ask me to tell them what I told their preacher.

I explain that is for another time in another way.

I return to the tall building, walk inside,

stand alone in the lobby next to the elevator

contemplating which button to push,

UP or DOWN.

4-18-23