I Dreamt of Tigers

Cherry

By Jane Hyphen

Thu, 10 Jul 2025
  • 262 reads
14 comments
 

 

I dreamt of tigers again last night.

I hid in their shadow stripes

and watched as memories

flickered with a show of faces

as they stalked me in a jungle

of old walls and places, native

underlations forgotten, unforgotten.

 

‘You must not turn your back’

I remembered those words and

stared back and held their fiery gaze,

deep inside the pocket of my sleep.

All my clocks stopped now

by primal fears and wounds,

planted like letters in the jungle.

 

I turned my back.

Can you die inside a dream?

And will you be found

inside the layers of a tiger’s bite?

I felt jaws squeezing my temporal self,

the dream punctured as I raced up

to the surface of another day.

 

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Tbe idea of You must not turn your back,on those tigers in a dream, tells me that obstacles being faced in life should be tackled head on.

Can you die in your sleep? That's also an interesting question, that I've never thought of.

Dream analysis is something I've always been interested in.

Your poem was fascinating to read Jane.

Jenny.

 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

You can't turn your back on a tiger and you should try and face a metaphorical tiger, at least that's what I've heardlaugh.  One of my daughter's is fascinated by dreams, she keeps a journal and has studied brain activity in sleep as part of her maths degree. I've reached an age where I've usually forgotten my dreams within thirty seconds of waking up. They do provide fantastic escapism though, even the scary ones.

Thank you for reading, Jenny and as always I appreciate your feedback.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Can you die inside a dream?

That's something I've always wondered too. I've sometimes dreamt that I was facing death in a dream and knew that if I didn't escape the danger I might not wake up, but I always have done... so far. But that experience of waking up from a dream within a dream drives me nuts. Am I typing this or am I only dreaming that I'm typing?

They're fascinating things are dreams, and often terrifying. The words of your poem resurrected some of my dreams and my thoughts about them. I enjoyed it.

Turlough

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Yes, I reckon some people have, heart attacks maybe, in a dream; not too bad a way to go surely, depends what you're dreaming about I suppose. 

I haven't had that dream within a dream thing for a long time. I think alcohol can cause that, and the sleep paralysis too. I don't drink anymore and my dreams have become single-skinned.

Thank you for your feedback, Turlough. And many thanks for the cherries.

 

Submitted by catherine poarch on

I used to dream of tigers a lot, often fighting them off with a tiny chair! Basically, I like the words of this! The rhyme and half rhyme and the pace of a tiger in there too. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Gosh, fighting them off with a tiny chair, that is quite stressful but I can imagine it in a dream. My own big cat dreams usually involve everything being fine and then seeing one and thinking, 'oh no there's a bloody lion over there!'. Thanks for reading, catherine.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

This really does have the sense of being in a dream, everything too sudden and total. Will try to remember to face tigers. I liked very much the stripes, of light and shadow, of forgotten and unforgotten, of waking and unwaking. "primal fears and wounds,/planted like letters in the jungle" is so strange, made me think of collages of leaves made from writing, that if read would draw you in, entrap you like venus fly traps do, so you couldn't move and would become food for the plant. Surreal and wonderful

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Di. I think in India people draw faces on the backs of their hats but I'm not sure if it fools the tigers if they're hungry enough to wander into a village and attack a person. I was thinking of how we bury our fears, interpret them in words, like writing a letter and then they grow elsewhere, like in a dream jungle. Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts.

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

More fundamental, I have come across an altogether different question, that is, if I had made a promise, a solemn vow unshakable and unbreakable, for ever, then if it was in a dream, does then the vow hold? Am I bound by that vow? One that I very very clearly remember.

As far as actually dying? Well, no, I am living proof, although of course, William B

What immortal hand or eye, dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Excellent work Jane, profound! Tom

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Wow, a promise in a dream. That is a very interesting question. There's a part of me that wonders if we're connected in a different way in dreams. If your dream was so deep that you remember it very clearly then there could be something more to it. Perhaps you could write about it and tell us more about the promise. Thank you for reading, Tom, I really appreciate your thoughts.

 

Submitted by Sooz006 on

Beautifully written, and some lovely phrases. I don't think we'll ever understand dreams, or what their purpose is, other than maybe to work through the stress of the real world. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you Sooz. It's hard to believe there's not more to dreams than fuzzy brain re-set. Sometimes they can really shock you and why do the same ones keep replaying? I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

 

Submitted by celticman on

tigers are killers, man has little chance but in our dreams perhaps we can escape before we wake? 

 

Submitted by marandina on

"Can you die inside a dream?

And will you be found

inside the layers of a tiger’s bite?"

Supposedly you can. Best not to test the theory.

That's a miasma of thoughts and feelings captured within the lines of this poem. Powerful and phrophetic (possibly). 

Fine work, Jane.