Dreaming within a dream (“Hedgehog in the fog” by Yuriy Norshtein, 1975)

the white horse of my dreams

floats over the milky fog.

a hedgehog drowns in the cloud

where shadows dwell.

a bat, an owl are flying by,

an elephant tries to walk through the wall,

crossing into the other dimension,  

 the sleeping tree

in its dreams dispersing gifts for the fog dwellers,

a pair of fireflies for the hedgehog to find the jar

with raspberry jam lost in a fog

meant to be shared with a friend

over a cup of tea, while counting the stars:

hedgehog to the left of the pine tree

and the bear cub to the right—

the white horse is chewing invisible grass

while the shadows prowls through the belly of the fog—

and then a dog, a real dog, runs

 into the hedgehog’s dream  to save his day,

dogs are always real, they are always there

 to save the days  lost in the fog, in dreams, in time ,     

elsewhere

or to rescue the jar with raspberry jam.

the bear cub’s voice echoes the hedgehog’s name in the fog.

some say the hedgehog  gone maybe 4 steps, maybe a few more

before he fell in the river, in its flow—

 it was flowing nowhere, following the Milky Way,

past the white horse chewing the invisible grass,

past the fog, past the sleeping forest.

the hedgehog’s fur soaked wet,

pulled him deeper into the river,

further into the Milky Way

 suddenly, from nowhere, someone polite

gently touched the hedgehog’s paw,

offered to take him to the shore.      

 the hedgehog

 thanked the gentle someone, who came from nowhere

and disappeared into somewhere,   

perhaps

to rescue another creature from the river    

or

the white horse from the milk of the fog.

the bear cub and tea were waiting for the hedgehog at the bank of the fog

the bear cub was talking, and talking, and talking

and the hedgehog was counting the stars quietly.

one must be quiet while counting stars

not to miss the white horse

©5/3 2012 by Nina K Orlovskaya