By MCL
Date: 20 September 1997

Stolen Dreams

As I sit on the bench overlooking the glassy ripples 
that make the bay, I feel a soft movement of my seat. As I look
beside me I see a man, a tall and handsome man. Deep black hair
of curls, a strongly built man with a gentle walk and touch.

As he turned and spoke I saw the most desolate look in his eyes, 
a look so empty it was almost frightening. I spoke nothing ,for I knew
only he could admit his tragedy.

He said he had the saddest love story of all to tell, please could
he tell me?, please could I listen?. I still spoke nothing, for only he
could admit his errors.

He began. In a time that seems so long past, although only
15 months have passed, I was searching for a happiness, a physical 
happiness, something that could end with the wind. As I searched
I stumbled upon a castle, a gray and powerful castle. As I 
entered I heard the sweet gentleness of a voice touched with the
slightest hint of melancholy. As I entered the large hall, I see
in chair the most beautiful sight I had ever imagined. 
I had found my physical happiness.  But, " no my friend, I had
found a princess"

The princess ran to me without a fear, her tears were of joy, 
" oh, thank you, dear man, I will never spend another day alone".

You see the Princess had been trapped in loneliness, she had no
complaints, she said her life had been joyful, because even trapped
in the castle, she had never been truly alone, she had her " dreams".

No longer will you live without a kiss upon your lips, no longer
will you live without the warmth of a hug. You will go with me to 
a world of brightness, a world of reality, a world where you can
feel and touch, a world where dreams are real.

So very thankful to me she was, as I basked in the glory of my 
heroism, she offered me the only thing she had ever owned, touched,
or felt, she gave me her " dreams'.

I knew I had something so rare, so unigue, and so fragile in my hands.
As I held her dreams, I trembled in fear of not being able to take
care of them, but I accepted them, she put in them in my heart, 
she let me touch them, she let me feel them, and all she asked in
return, was to never lose her dreams away from her, because she 
had nothing else.

As the months went by the princess became all I lived for, she had been
my destiny , so long before I even knew, the dreams she gave me would
give a lifetime of love, I wanted nothing more, I had found the
reason for life, I had found the eutopia. The princess was adjusting
to this life I called reality, she learned to run, she learned 
to cry, she learned to need. But when she could not face another 
moment, she would come to me, and climb into my arms, to be so 
close to those dreams she had put into my heart for me to care for.

Then one fatal day, I forgot that I was the keeper of something
so fragile, something so special, something so rare, that only
hands as soft as a winds whisper could hold this treasure. I forgot
that I had been given the honor of holding love. Love in the form 
of dreams. And that day for my pleasure, I had so many plans, and
became unattentive,I laid them aside for only a moment. 
I lost her dreams.

The princess knew immediately because we were as one, it was 
felt. She ran so fast, I tried to follow , but I wasn't fast enough..

And now the princess is back in her castle and I am here. But you
see the tradegy is that I have the dreams, I found them after 
that fatal night. As the princess sits so alone locked in her
castle without the very thing she had owned, touched and felt, 
her dreams; I wander this land we call reality with these stolen
dreams in my heart, I am destined to a life as a thief, I stole
all she had ever touched.

I had yet not spoken, because I knew he must admit his destiny.

Please can you help me find the key to free my princess again? he asked

And I spoke" The key is within the dreams, and the dreams are 
the princess. You just had not yet accepted her as her dreams,
and when you accept that , you will have set me free again"