The Dreams

Dream 162

I decided to walk all the way from the southern end of the Nile Valley to the northern one.

At the start of the journey, I met the girl who had been my sweetheart in childhood and early manhood. She had recklessly put on weight, and advised me to get married instead of undertaking this pointless trek.

I thanked her and resumed my march, until I encountered my friend “M” sitting crosslegged on a prayer rug. I was amazed — for I remembered him from the days of godlessness and rowdyism. “Guidance comes from God on high,” he said to me, inviting me to sit next to him: I wished him well as I bid him goodbye.

Then, halfway in my journey, I ran into “B”: I kept staring at her until she responded, “I waited until you proposed to my father, but you didn’t take a single step after the examination — and what’s the reason for that?” I told her that I, like her, wondered about it too.

Afterward I went back to my walk. And when I reached the north, sore-footed and fatigued, I saw my immortal beloved, the lower half of her body immersed in the waters of the Mediterranean, the upper half illuminating all that was around her.

In her melodious voice, she asked me, “What have you gained from this arduous sojourn?”

“How can a love without the least bit of hope endure through such a long, difficult life?” I asked her in return.