I was laying alone in a wide open ocean. I felt a warm breeze roll across my naked body, the waves lapping gently on my shoulders. I knew not how I came to be in this place. I lifted my head, and gazed out on the sun, breaking through the cloud line on the horizon. Bathed in the warm hues, I could not tell whether the sun was rising or falling. I turned to roll over, but found my body seemed to be locked in place. Though I should perhaps have felt a tinge of panic at this, it seemed to matter not. I felt the breeze was calling my name, though it seemed muffled for some reason. Through all this I know not how long I lay there floating. Time seemed to dilate, seconds turning into minutes, minutes to hours. After what seemed like days, I looked up to find the sun had not even changed position. It lingered still, ever rising or setting on our lives.
     Eventually I came to realize that I was no longer in the water. Though my body still slept amongst the waves, my being had somehow risen into a new, ethereal place, looking down on the crystal ocean from the hazy air above. And then I realized I was not alone. As far as I could see from this new vantage point lay reflections, shimmering in the sunlight. When they came into focus, I saw that these reflections were people, who seemed strangely familiar to me. I saw some who appeared to be flying away, away from the earth and towards the stars, pilgrims and warriors alike. The colorful nebulas enveloped them, the sun painting rainbows on the water. Others sat in front of computers, programming the lives of machines who sought either to save the world or destroy it; the line was very faint. Far off in the distance I could hear music, softly strummed on the wind, and the waves were the harmonics echoing off. Now too I felt there was a voice, a voice soft but not sad singing along with the wind and water, but again it seemed as though it came from across a valley, echoing up the mountains, the words unclear. Thousands more of these specters called the water their home, and I pondered over every one of them, their identity and purpose on the tip of my tongue, until suddenly the wind began to howl, the waves swirled ever more rapidly, and dark clouds rolled over the sun, blotting out the light and leaving me blind.
     Then I was back in the water. A warm breeze swept across my body, the waves rippling past my shoulders. I looked up and saw the sun in its entirety, for the clouds had all been blown away, rising ever higher into the aqua sky. I hoped to stay there forever.
     And then I opened my eyes. Sunlight gleamed through the window. Feet slipped onto the ground, and made their way through the day. But my thoughts dwelled always where the day began. Still I saw the shadowy forms throughout my waking hours, shapes and colors flowing past, near and yet more foreign than can be imagined. The voices bouncing off my ears, drumming a beat so very different from my own. People playing for money and for power, for fame and for infamy, for life and for death. These hollow specters try to fill their emptiness with their earthly charades. But I know better than to listen for a song that cannot be heard. Dust returns to dust. And now, I long to be back in my mind, the only thing that is mine, though it was only a dream.