More short takes.(author's literary reminiscences)(Diary entry)

4/8/83

Roland Robinson's Dream

DELIVERED Roland Robinson to us at Queanbeyan yesterday afternoon, where Roland was due to stay overnight. Periodically renewing our pots of tea, we yarned, the western sun streaming through our dining room window onto the white walls. At one point Roland described this dream.

"I am lying on the floor of a most bee-ootiful cavern," he growled in his venerable way. "Beside me lies a beautiful woman with long hair and pale, perfect skin. Beyond this woman is another, then another and so on, growing less distinct as they are perceived to be further away. I know myself to be present, but I have no thoughts of sex.

"Through the cave's centre runs an utterly clear stream. I tell the woman next to me that if we dive in and swim downwards, we'll find a passage. Then, if we swim down this, in turn we'll find an adjoining passage which we must follow until it eventually leads us up into the open air.

"One by one the women disappear into the stream. Finally I'm left in the cavern by myself. I know that now it is my turn, that I should take a deep breath. But the thought occurs, What if l should miss the entrance of the adjoining passage and continue down the main passage of the stream? Upon thinking this, I wake up."

"Sounds like an anxiety dream about the natal canal to me," responded L when Roland finished.