‘Older Dream’

Daekyu Lim actively champions accessible athletics through wheelchair basketball support with the Spiritus Foundation. Passionate about marine conservation, Daekyu also founded the Eco School Club and leads student initiatives using marine drones to document and address coastal pollution with local authorities.

Older Dream

My skin has lost some elasticity over
the years. They say I'm older now—
a gentleman, as expected by society,
who understands rocket science, taking
larger footsteps to leave the doorstep
of my father’s house and walk into a
brand new occupation, while my relatives
keep an eye on my slippery blue tie that
makes them proud. They say: dream big!
A responsible man is often afraid of
dreaming like a child, and childhood
fantasies never grow older. The lantern
in my old house saw me grow every
night, the walls heard the stories my
grandfather told me, but now, I'm an
adult, and I even dream with open eyes.
My father told me I'd be wise and patient,
but the child in me cries in my native
language. Still a part of me dreams of
finding heaven in the sky since eight—
a space between clouds for retreated ones
to revive with high pitch angel songs.
Dusty dawns to chaos in daylights
force silent nights to illuminate a new
life out of the bonfire in my head, and I
convince myself to see Venus—invisible
to these human eyes. My beloveds know
that I'm isolated for a reason now.
Ignoring life was a purpose, so I took
a pen and started dreaming on paper.

Marsal Soren lives in Bokaro Steel City, India. His usual interests lie in sociocultural themes, and some of his works appear in reader communities such as Stretch Your Shelf and in magazines including TwoTwoOne.NYC, The Literary Times, and The Fib Review. Instagram: www.instagram.com/babblebay