In the Night

[imafarmgirl]

In the Night

In the night
I seek asylum
From the troubles
Of the day.
Dreams chase in circles,
Mapping out reality
And remembrances of times passed by.
I see all tomorrows,
As I sleep,
Waiting in the silence,
For the options of my path
To be made clear.
In the night,
I lie awake
Waiting for prayers
Of loved ones,
Disliked ones,
Unknown ones,
And forgotten ones,
To drift
Through my heart.
Then hands.
Then to
The Creator of us all.
In the night,
I wait for peace.
It comes,
But only with my deep breathing,
Contemplative sipping of water,
Or the wonders of an engaging
Audio book.
In the night,
I am me.
I am,
Who I was born as.
I am my name.
I whisper it,
In the darkness,
To Grandmother moon,
And to the stars.
In the night,
And all throughout my existence,
I am,
Woman Who Dreams,
And I will know you,
As we rest,
In the night.

Comments

[humanbeansradio]

I really loved the sense of night as a place where you can come back to yourself. I feel that. “Woman Who Dreams” is lovely. ❤️

[imafarmgirl]

Thanks. I'm glad you like the sense of coming back to one's self at night.

Woman Who Dreams is how my name translates in English but it was given in Anishinaabe and I thought would be strange written out and would stop the flow of the poem as people tried to pronounce it.

[humanbeansradio]

Yes, every time someone asks my name they then stare at me blankly when I say it. Anglicized seems to be more palatable for the regular folk. :D

(says Koga Agehya Anidonav) LOL

[imafarmgirl]

I'm laughing because my screen reading software doesn't know what to do with your name. I looked it spelling letter by letter and I don't think it is even close when it tries to speak it. It still sounds cool though. I wish I could get a recording of it reading your name for you.

I don't know how to spell mine in anishinaabe because I have never studied the language and it has a lot of double letters which confuse me, but it is pronounced kind of like

vah-wah-ji-gay E-quay

The last part is woman. The first translates to the last day of a vision quest in which the person has most powerful dreams or visions, but my uncle told me the best English translation he could give was Woman Who Dreams.

Thanks for sharing and reading.

[adoptedwriter]

This is beautiful! 🤩

[imafarmgirl]

Thanks so much and good luck in the voting.

[gardeningatnight]

I think the idea that in the night we can simply be ourselves feels true. It's a chance for us to remove the masks that we wear in public and simply be.

[imafarmgirl]

Exactly. The funny thing is that I didn't realize that is what I was writing until I finished the poem. The words just came to me, and later I figured out what they meant. Too funny.

[simplyn2deep]

This has such a peaceful rhythm to it, even though the night itself isn’t entirely peaceful. I liked how nighttime becomes the place where everything seems to arrive at once: memories, possibilities, worries, prayers for all kinds of people, and yet it’s also where the speaker slowly finds their way back to stillness through little things like breathing, sipping water, or getting absorbed in an audiobook.

The ending was especially beautiful to me. There’s something powerful about the progression from all those outside thoughts and voices to simply, “In the night, I am me.” And I loved the image of whispering their name to Grandmother Moon and the stars before naming themselves “Woman Who Dreams.” It makes the night feel less like darkness to escape and more like a sacred space where the speaker can reconnect with who they are. ❤️

[imafarmgirl]

That is awesome you got all that from these words. Thanks so much for that.

Woman Who Dreams is actually really my name. It was giving to me as I was coming to adulthood in a special naming ceremony done by my uncle at a pow wow. It is actually in Anishinaabe, but the English translation fit better here and was less confusing.

[bsgsix]

"In the night, I am me."

You know, that seems like a simple statement, but it's not. There is a peace to being one's authentic self at night, where so few people can see. And if you can authentic with yourself, that's the thing that matters most.

I also love the moon as "Grandmother Moon" - I fully understand that sentiment, of love and respect and watchfulness.

This is lovely and well-written. Thank you for sharing this so openly! <3

[imafarmgirl]

Thanks for your kind words.

I think that a perfect example of being ourselves is that some people wear a mask of make up during the night and don't let anyone see them without it. Yet it goes much deeper than that as you seem to understand quite well.

Thanks for reading.

[halfshellvenus]

I liked the use of refrain here, and the thoughtfulness of this poem. When the world is quiet and we're trying to make our bodies and minds quiet, sometimes we connect with our truest self.

[imafarmgirl]

Thanks. I'm glad you were able to find the meaning or message from the words I wrote. Smile.

[penpusher]

I liked this a lot - the immediacy and the incongruency of the unknown and how the elements of routine try to alleviate it all. There is always somethinng mysterious, promising, dangerous, in our most vulnerable positions and that's captured so tidily, here.

[imafarmgirl]

Thank you so much for your kind words. They mean a lot.

[ofearthandstars]

I lie awake
Waiting for prayers
Of loved ones,
Disliked ones,
Unknown ones,
And forgotten ones,
To drift
Through my heart.
Then hands.
Then to
The Creator of us all.

I really enjoyed the sentiment of this, it reminds me of a bodhisattva, or perhaps a being who wants to hold the world and heal it. ♥

[imafarmgirl]

Thanks. It's awesome that you liked it. I do feel that way about healing the world. That if we all tried, we could do it. In the night, with our prayers and positive thinking and dreaming.

[commodityfetishx]

i'm happy to read a poem in idol! tbh it was very hard to read because your layout is very narrow (at least on my laptop, not sure if for everyone), it's like 100pixels wide so it only fits a word or two per line, sometimes less if it's a long word like "remembrance" doesn't fit. i didn't even realize it was a poem until i read the comments that said it was & then made the window full screen because it's all just smooshed into an inch wide space. might be something to look into changing for ease of reading.

[imafarmgirl]

Thanks for telling me this. I am blind so I have no idea about the layout. I will have to get a sighted friend to look at it.

[singedsun]

I love this, I'm a sucker for poetry about night and sleep and dreams, so you got me for sure. "Woman Who Dreams" is a great phrase.

[imafarmgirl]

Glad you liked it. Woman Who Dreams is the English translation of my Anishinaabe spiritual name.

[purplepetrichor]

This was lovely!

[muchtooarrogant]

You portray night as such a fascinating place, a refuge from daytime concerns, but also a place where so many things are discovered. It was always a time of reading for me as well, and sometimes outside exploring, although I'd have to be careful not to be locked out when I returned. :)

Dan

[imafarmgirl]

That is fun that you were outside exploring in the night. I have never liked being out at night alone very much but when I had my three guide dogs it helped.

Thanks for reading.

[lapis_lazuli615]

Ah. I, too, avoid bedtime - but mine's just the ADHD. :)

[onda_bianca]

I actually relate to this feeling about night quite well, sometimes when I am most at peace.


I loved "Woman Who Dreams"

[imafarmgirl]

I'm so glad you can relate. A lot of people have been saying that and it is a comfort to me.

Woman Who Dreams is actually my Anishinaabe name. It was given to me by my uncle when I reached adulthood. Of course I also have an ordinary name, in English, given to me by my parents at birth also.

[krispykritter]

This is beautiful!