29 Dreamers

29 childish faces, forever glued to their places
Forever in their seats, on that dusty stage

58 widened eyes, open in sudden surprise
We didn't expect the camera's flash, on that dusty stage.

1 single scene, kept so incredibly pristine
Locked behind a frame and glass, lies that dusty stage

It's hard to return to the present, because really, it feels like an age
It feels like a lifetime, it feels like aeons-
since that dusty stage.

28 lives I trail after, for 28 dreamers, I trail faster
Though for each inch, a distance stretches, pulling me from my gage

But freedom, you see, means little, means nothing to me
As though I'm not without sadness or rage

I know the glass will soon break, leaving in its quake
29 dreamers
And an empty stage

---
This poem was awarded First Place (Secondary) for Poetry Object 2017

Judge's Notes:
"This poem takes a difficult form, the ghazal, and makes a refined and moving, compelling and tender poem of it. It employs and (mostly) sustains a complex rhyme scheme. And it honours the ancient form while telling a story, as if from the point of view of the last of a troupe or succession of dreamers, masks (and their dancers) on a stage. '29 Dreamers' is a beautiful title and image. And the poem plays nicely with the numbers:29, 58, 1, 28, 29. These lines are dreamlike and powerful: '28 lives I trail after, for 28 dreamers, I trail faster/ Though for each inch, a distance stretches, pulling me from my gage'."
~ Mark Tredinnick, Judge, Poetry Object 2017

Watch our Poetry Object 2017 digital exhibition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TukWN1BdcPs