The other night there were a lot of snakes in my dream

I spent the day trying to figure out what they mean

I searched the internet

Read all the things psychologists have said

I’ve been breaking the dream down

Trying to understand the meaning of the snake that was brown

The setting: my parents’ backyard, a big lawn of green

The characters: my husband, my parents, and me

I was walking through the yard, looking for something or trying to grab something

There were a bunch of snakes coiled together-one was long and stringy

They were benign

I walked a ways and there was another one lying, dark green

But mixed in between there was a lethal one

His head was fat, his skin was brown

I noticed that

He wasn’t shedding

His eyes were cunning

The sight of him didn’t send me running

My family pointed him out

Like they were scouts

I acknowledged his presence and tried to tiptoe around him

For he was like a grenade

I knew his power but I wasn’t afraid

I had to keep on going for whatever reason I was there

That remains a mystery

For that brown snake had my care

You know I stepped around him

I skirted on by

It stood out to me that his presence was so noted

Like something awry

That was sort of the main point in the dream

There’s a venomous snake nestled in between

The grenade didn’t go off

No one died

None of us ran to hide

But one thing: my family did stand back as I walked amongst the snakes

In that backyard by the honeysuckle bush

There was no shove or push

They told me about him, just like a shovel or a rake

I proceeded

And their warning was heeded

I ventured through the yard with great care

Did I ever grab that thing I needed?

One thing’s for sure: that venomous brown snake was there