Sisyphus Dreams
Poem - by Colleen Anderson
I dream of moving on
and see the irony
I’ve never been allowed to stop
never been able to rest
My dreams are small
not grandiose, take my calloused hands
rolling boulders through eternity
not like I was in the beginning
in cheating my way past gods
Just simple things I want
like quaffing cool water from a beaten gold cup
laying in the Elysian fields to snooze
laughing with friends at a marble table
and wine of course, and women
It keeps me going, these visions
on my relentless travels
the pebbles well-ground into my feet
up the craggy mountain, back again
a pull-toy of the gods
I have traveled the circumference
of the world a thousand times over
yet have never seen anything but this one
well-trudged slope, every particle
of dirt and texture of stone
Some days I dream smaller
of swimming Corinth’s ocean
strolling a poppy-speckled meadow
ambling, arms free of burden
able to choose my next steps
Sometimes I do dream big
that I will one day push
the smoothed boulder over the edge
stand at the mountain’s arid apex, watch
that pebble roll its way into oblivion
Punishment has outweighed the deed
I’ve learned my lesson, hang on
to Pandora’s last treasure, a future
and one genuinely great dream
I keep nestled close to my stone heart
That one day, out of curiosity
Hades will pay me a visit
watch my futile efforts
and as the boulder rolls away
I will turn to the god and smash in
his head with a smaller, more stable rock