“You think the dead we have loved ever truly leave us? ........ You did see your father last night, Harry … you found him inside yourself.” –Albus Dumbledore
Death of a loved one is sorrow unimaginably deep. Try as we might, it cannot be forgotten. It only lessens with time. Shock unsettles you and grief settles in. You cannot move, you cannot breathe, you cannot think. Yet, all you do is think! The hours awake and the hours asleep, you think. All you want is for them to return.
You curse them for abandoning you. You shout at them, you cry your eyes out! You wish death would take you away too. You wish it were all a bad dream and the next moment you will wake up to find your life returned to normalcy. But life, or rather death, works differently. As Prof. Dumbledore rightly says, our loved ones never truly leave us. They love us even in their death. And it is they who show us a way to move on in life.
It is believed that dreams are the reflections of the subconscious mind. It is a matter of perspective what meaning we wish to assign to those dreams. The dreams of those who have suffered the loss of loved ones tend to revolve only around them. Various happy memories get replayed, old forgotten times are remembered. Eventually the dreams become the only place to see the dead alive and lively. Do these dreams only originate because we are in constant thought of the dead? Or do these dreams have deeper meaning?
The grieving for the dead truly starts after their last physical remains no longer remain. They haven’t fully departed until we let them go. They are bound to the mortal world, trapped in our saddened minds till we learn to lead a life without them. They are patient. They are caring. They help us cross the thorny paths of life without hurting ourselves. They are with us and within, making us strong from the inside. They make their presence felt for they call out in our dreams.
Colourful, vivid dreams, so close to reality, keep frequenting tired and lonely minds. Few are instances from the past; others show how much they loved us! Those point out the happiness that was shared during life. They give a sense of satisfaction of being with those close to our heart, if not by daylight, at least when asleep. Few others make us wander around mazes, losing them and finding them, resembling a game of hide and seek. They give us the strength to face life, alone. Yet others would show the dead leading a happy life elsewhere. All these are dreams shown to us by our long gone loved ones.
Slowly the dreams become less discernible. They appear less often. Newer dreams concerning other issues appear. Our grief reduces. We start leading our life, which we considered impossible without them. Someday, finally, consciously and unconsciously we accept the void death created in our lives. It is now that our loved ones can depart. They depart having been with us through our misery. They depart having fulfilled their responsibility towards us. They depart, filling us with love, humility and care for all that exists in our lives.
Love knows no death. It lives on even when those we loved have been snatched away. Not just in our hearts, but in theirs too. They will visit again, when we are least expecting it. They will give us reason to smile in our sleep, having hugged them again, having loved them again. They will be in our hearts always for they call out in our dreams.
