Stuff Of Dreams

"I have always been solitary, but here on the nightward shores of dream, loneliness washes over me in waves, lapping and pulling at my spirit.."

- The Sandman Volume One: Preludes and Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman

There are some who are born to speak for us, better than we ever could. They transcribe our dreams, hopes, thoughts, visions, fears without ever having met us, sift through out whole lives as if they knew us, picking the worst (and sometimes the best) moments and kneading them into the fabric that is the stuff of stories. And so every story has a grain of life, because in the end all stories end the same way, the way all life goes.

In volume one of the Sandman, Morpheus (the titular character) has to face a challenge with Choronzon, a lesser Duke of hell, in exchange for his helm of dreams. The challenge itself is a mixture between role-playing and metaphysical O-som: each tries to outdo the other by assuming different forms and ultimately hoping to subdue the opponent (a snake tries to bite a horse, which then turns into an ox, crushing the snake..and so on). Nearing the end of the battle, Morpheus assumes the form of the universe, with all the life in it:

"I am the universe, all things encompassing, all life embracing."

To which Choronzon, seeing an opening replies:

" I am anti-life, the beast of judgement. I am the dark at the end of everything.."

Pompous and assured of victory, the demon enquires of Morpheus:

"And what will you be THEN, Dreamlord?"

Morpheus only needs one line to win:

"I am hope."

Perhaps, in these somewhat troubled times it would do us all good to remember that there IS hope. Faint in some, strong in others, but it is never gone from us unless we banish it. And having written this, I hope I remember as well.