Author’s Note

Some dreams tell stories.

Others simply place you beside someone and let the world unfold around you.

This poem came from one of those dreams.

What fascinated me wasn’t that the scenery kept changing—from beaches, to city streets, to a dense jungle—but that neither of us moved. We stayed exactly where we were while everything else transformed around us.

That became the emotional center of the poem.

Sometimes the people who matter most become the fixed point in our lives. Circumstances change. Places change. Time changes. But certain connections remain steady enough that everything else feels like it’s revolving around them.

I also wanted to explore the idea that silence isn’t empty.

Some of the most meaningful moments I’ve experienced—whether in dreams or in waking life—have involved very few words. A glance, a smile, the way someone looks at you for a single second can communicate more than entire conversations.

By the end of the poem, the world stops changing altogether.

The dream begins to dissolve, but one thing refuses to disappear.

Not the beach.

Not the city.

Not the jungle.

Just her face.

Sometimes that’s what we carry back into waking life: not the dream itself, but the feeling that remained after everything else faded.

— Rowan Evans

The World Shifted Around Us
Poetry by Rowan Evans

I laid down in need of rest,
it was just a nap, that’s all it was—
but as soon as I closed my eyes,
I saw your face—your voice broke the silence.
Then the void around us shifted,
it became a beach and then city streets.

We never changed positions—
the world changed around use.

We didn’t drift, didn’t sway—
we just stood and stayed,
but the world continued to change.
First the beach, then city streets—
before finally shifting into trees
as far as the eye could see.

The jungle was thick with trees,
but not as thick as the humidity.

With every shift, my vision blurs—
except the vision of her.
As the world becomes hard to see,
she remains steady.

And her face carries a thousand words,
even when her voice goes unused.

We didn’t speak, we didn’t need to—
even as the world continued to shift.
From the beach to city streets,
then the jungle deep—
the next place was somewhere simpler.

Somewhere that felt more like peace,
an escape from the heat and humidity.

Still not a word was spoken—
but you gave a look,
quick and simple,
but it said so much.
Because the truth is
you didn’t need words to tease.

The world around us softened—
colors thinning, edges fading,
but you stayed clear a moment longer,
steady in the quiet.

The moment settled into something calm—
the air cooling, the silence warm,
your eyes holding mine
with that same quiet tease—

in the end, the world stopped shifting—
no beach, no streets, no jungle heat.

And the last thing to fade was your face—
the world dimming around it
like a curtain drawing closed.
Even as the dream thinned to nothing,
your look stayed bright behind my eyelids,
a quiet afterglow that followed me
into the stillness of waking.

Journey into the Hexverse…

[Every Night, The Same Flight]
Every night begins with the same flight. Between wakefulness and sleep, an airport appears, a familiar shoreline waits beyond the journey, and the same dream asks whether some destinations find us before we’re ready to find them.

[Where I Belonged]
A bedroom becomes an airport in the space between sleep and waking. Where I Belonged explores liminal consciousness, uncertainty, and the strange moments when reality feels suspended between two worlds.

[Pointing Me Home]
The final poem in the No Metaphor Left Behind trilogy explores dreams, hope, and belonging. Through moonlight, ocean tides, and quiet conversation, Pointing Me Home reflects on carrying hope long before reaching the place you call home.

[Just Beyond Waking]
A street that feels familiar. A life that hasn’t happened yet. Just Beyond Waking explores the fragile space between dreams, memory, longing, and the quiet feeling that some futures are already waiting for us.

[The Streets I Walk When I Sleep]
“The Streets I Walk When I Sleep” is a deeply intimate free verse poem about recurring dreams, emotional connection, longing across distance, and the strange feeling of remembering places and moments that have never happened in waking life.

If you’re interested in more poetry, you can find it here → [The Library of Ashes]