The Coral Elephant

After I published my poem, "The Ring", my strange dreams began to change.

The Ahm was the size of a wall, the image from the ring was life-sized, and the elephant stepped out of the ring. Standing before me was a life-sized coral elephant, staring at me with Dave's eyes. The mystery deepened. I had something else to check into and investigate. I still wondered why Dave had taken off the ring that was never supposed to leave his hand, but now, I had to wonder: why is the elephant stepping out of the coral?

Each night, the memory replayed up to the point where the elephant revealed itself to me. Then, the Ahm from Dave's tattoo would grow in size, taking up the space before me, and the face of the ring grew to more than life-size. As the shape of the elephant began to take form, it actually continued pushing forward, until it stepped through the coral face. And this huge, life-sized coral elephant stood before me. It had Dave's eyes. It made no move, no sound, didn't even blink. It stared at me with the same intensity as Dave had while I studied the ring.

My research did turn up information on coral and elephants. Though nothing on coral elephants. Coral is often used to ward off evil. It's a protection. It also relieves tension and fear, and promotes positive forms of social life. It is worn by Deities in mythology and represents the sun. The color red means a transformation of attachment into wisdom of discernment, and is represented by the tongue: the organ of communication. Dreaming of the color red means the person needs action in his or her life.

The elephant, of course, is sacred. It is a celestial animal, for they offered wishes and flowers to Buddha. The elephant is the grantor of wishes, and removes ignorance. He represents long-life, wisdom, patience. Ganesh, the god of writing and wisdom, had the head of an elephant, and was the assistant to Shiva.

So I figure that dreaming of the coral elephant means there's something I'm supposed to do, to gain insight into my mystery. The elephant in this instance represents Buddhist Dave, himself. And it's been trying hard to get my attention. I just wish it would speak.

But, oddly, as time passed, the dream changed again. When the elephant stepped through the coral, it was different. It was no longer a coral elephant standing before me. It was jade.