My memory stretches back over sixty five years

I rarely think of childhood days while awake

But when sleeping I am a kid again

Happily playing games in a schoolyard that no longer exists

Hard to remember that first day of school while awake

Big buildings and noisy playgrounds

details are filed somewhere in my head

Teachers voices so clear in my dreams

They said I would never achieve anything in life

Their words motivated me to prove them wrong 

I like to walk on beaches 

Roaring waves fill my ears

Those teenage years living by the sea

Can only be relived vividly during slumber

Long days playing on sandy beaches

Catching fish for dinner

Three score since my first love

Her sweet smiling face so close in my dreams

Filling my heart with joy and passion

I dare not ask if still utter her name in my sleep

My university degree was almost fifty years ago

I have dreams about those final exams

Waking in a cold sweat of worry

Why does my mind go back there at night

Sixty five years supporting Liverpool Football Club

Early days watching games in packed stadiums

Today’s players fill my wide screen TV 

I score the winning goal nightly in bed

As a boy I dreamed of racing cars

In my twenties I owned a racing mini cooper

I won a race in 1980

I often see that checkered flag waving at 3 AM

While sleeping last night I held my new born baby girl

Watching her first breath in awe

She is a grown woman now

With her own baby 

My son is living the music city dream

Performing in Nashville

He dreams of being a rock star

He is still a happy playing five year old boy in my dreams

More than thirty years since my father passed

His face and Scottish brogue are fond memories

We still have great conversations today

Interrupted so rudely by my alarm clock

Over twenty years since losing my mother

Her love lives on in my heart

In troubled times she visits me

Those dreams more real than today

It’s so much fun to wake up 

Next to the girl of your dreams

Recounting our last night’s adventures

That she did not know of because she was sleeping

I am living my dream life now

Filling my days with activities I want to do

Having adventures that were once only dreams

Surrendering my nighttime thoughts to the dream controller