Dreams on Sale

There is a place where dreams once went on sale
and folks could get the ones they wanted, cheap:
a lifelong love, a cup of stars, a heap
of gold or leaves, a mermaid in a pail.
So all the dreamers walked the rainbow trail
that rose above the ivory Gates of Sleep
and talked of dreams they’d tried to catch and keep
and how the dawn had made their efforts fail.
But Joseph rested underneath a tree
and butterflies sat on his hands, and showed
him scenes that God had painted on their wings—
of Egypt, Israel, and future things
along his path. He walked a different road,
this Joseph, knowing that his dreams were free.