Dreams love to speak to us in song. Music is a felt experience, inherently lyrical. Song is the last memory we hold when other memories have vanished. Music has always been a joyful, integral part of my life and dreams, and it's a powerful part of my dreamwork, especially with Alzheimer's patients. When a dream brings a message in song, it is often profound, touching us on the deepest level, though dream song can be playful and happy, too. There's a kind of music we sometimes experience in dreams that defies description - ethereal and unlike any other music we've ever heard. This type of lyrical dream can be deeply inspiring, embraced simply for the divine gift it is. Other dreams of song bring us messages in the lyrics, speaking straight into our hearts or souls. These dreams may call us to action, help us to confront or release an emotion, or remind us that we are all connected, beyond our ordinary senses, beyond any language, save the music of the heart.
Lyrical dreams have filled my own heart many times. For 16 years, my mother lived with Alzheimer's disease, and for most of those years, she couldn't communicate with speech. She came to me in my dreams, and in those dreams, she often sang this song:
Lavender's green, dilly dilly Lavender's blue If you love me, dilly dilly I will love you Who told you so, dilly dilly Who told you so? Twas my own heart, dilly dlly That told me so.
In the words of a childhood lullaby, my mother found a way to speak. That is the power of dreaming. That is the grace of living your dreams.