Have you ever tried to bring something back with you as you woke up from dreaming?  The only things you can keep from a dream are memories and feelings.  That's also all you can take with you when you cross over.

Glazing the surface,
just out of reach,
yet pulling from the core.
Dimensions touching lightly
into me...
yield tiny scraps.
At the tip of consciousness by day,
it pulls me away at night
to allow a visit there.
Fourth hour roamings
free of gravity's pull
mutter blurry stories.
Memories shatter
and dismember
by returning to reality.
Something surrounds us
that most cannot see,
holding existence in all its forms.
Knowledge lives
just out of reach
yet pulling from the core.

I’m in a strange place
But I don’t know it
Because I know my way around.
I’m walking down a road
Then running.
I can run for 3 or 4 miles
At an athletic pace.
Later I will ask myself,
“Where is this place
That I know so well?”
Because I’ve never been there.
But right now I can feel the wind
Blowing past
And the ground contacting my feet.
I don’t try to understand
How I got here
It’s just a natural place
For me to be
Right now.
Suddenly I am ripped from this place
And it dissolves before my eyes.
Even my eyes vanish
And the wind and my feet.
And I realize I’ve been dreaming
Of one of those familiar places
That I can only visit
In the dream world.

When you awake from a dream, you realize that the horrors or drama from the dream are over and that you were always completely safe -- no matter what.  When you depart from this life, you will realize the same.

Endless vistas of exploding frogs
Spreading through the darkened corners
Consuming night and convoluting
My mind's awareness of the physical

My gentle drifting off to sleep
Becomes a rush of vivid color
Unveils a landscape dark and red
Maybe a dream, perhaps a vision

A large black wolf slithers up to me
His eyes betraying evil sentience
To his humor, he lowly rumbles
"I know how it all comes out"

His hot breath penetrates my soul
I wonder at his words and he says
"I'm from a place lacking time
Where all existence is at once

"I'm a messenger from the realm
From before life and after death
I know who dies and when and why
I've seen the pains of your whole life

"When passing through your dreaming lands
Where in one you find me lurking
Standing, glaring with my sneering smirk
Then brace your heart, a death is near

"I'm just a player in the endless vista
A vital member of life's game
I should not be a creature feared
I mark the path that takes you home"