As I walked down the wide aisle in the barn my only view was to the left. Stall after stall, all ancient wood, all deeply dusted, all extreme tactile features for me. I could feel the course surface of the thick planks that made up the walls of the stalls. Cobwebs, dust, straw covering the floor, straw gathered into the corners presenting round edges to the scene.
Dust floated in the light that streamed through the high narrow windows. As I walked, some of the horses tilted their head to catch a glance at me but most were concentrating on their feed buckets, occasional snorts added clouds of moisture to the streams of light. All were draft horses, not show draft horses but real working animals, closer to the ground.
As I walked along, past countless stalls, men and women tended to chores in the stalls, in the hay mow, walking up and down dusty stairs that lead to lofts. I might have seen forty or fifty people. All were dressed in worn work cloths, darkly dressed. All in the barn were black people. None acknowledged my presence, all were busy doing their chores and didn’t utter a sound. It felt like the 1800′s.
An odd feature in this dream was that my sight could only see to the left, nothing viewed on the right and barely anything ahead.
Somehow I transitioned out of the barn, the scene changed in a flash. I was standing on gravel and pea stone, enormous, industrial looking, metal buildings all around me. All seemed to be held high off the ground, supported by large iron girders. Long expanses of corrugated, galvanized metal formed the sides and roofs. Barren and lifeless. Cold and hard. It felt like the 1950′s.
This new scene felt alien and sterile compared to the barns. Reflecting now, I could almost say that the dream was about alienation, separation from Nature. However, I know that dreams are tricky, seldom straight forward.
