The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes
The Sound of Her Wings
"I find myself wondering about humanity.
Their attitude to my sister's (Death) gift is so strange.
Why do they fear the sunless lands?
It is as natural to die as it is to be born.
But they fear her. Dread her.
Feebly they attempt to placate her.
They do not love her.
Many thousands of years ago I heard a song in a dream, a mortal song that celebrated her gift.
I still remember it.
Death is before me today:
Like the recovery of a sick man,
Like going forth into a garden after sickness.
Death is before me today:
Like the odor of myrrh,
Like sitting under a sail in a good wind.
Death is before me today:
Like the course of a stream,
Like the return of a man from the war-galley to his house.
Death is before me today:
Like the home that a man longs to see,
After years spent as a captive.
That forgotten poet understood her gifts.
My sister has a function to perform, even as I do.
The Endless have their responsibilities.
I have responsibilities.
I walk by her side, and the darkness lifts from my soul.
I walk with her, and I hear the gentle beating of mighty wings...."
-Morpheus
Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, was with his sister Death when he was thinking about these things. Seeing death as a blessing seems to be so difficult for other people to do. Nevertheless, there's no point in holding onto someone or something for so long. There could be a reason or a plan why these events happen. Until one looks for that reason, there's no point in stopping one's life to move on. Each individual has a unique responsibility to fulfill, and he/she should just continue to live with it and to hold true to it.
The Sandman: Dream Country
A Midsummer Nights Dream
"And I wonder why I wonder .
Will is a willing vehicle for the great sotires.
Through him they will live for an age of man;
and his words will echo down through time.
It is what he wanted.
But he did not understand the price.
Mortals never do.
They only see the prize, their hearts desire,
their dream.
But the price of getting what you wanted
is getting what you once wanted."
-Morpheus
In this story, Morpheus invited the faeries to earth as his gratitude for the happiness that these faeries have given to him. He asked William Shakespeare to write a play about these faeries . Obviously, that play was Shakepeares’ A Midsummer Nights Dream. In return, Morpheus gave Shakespeare what he desires most, having a son of his own. Shakespeare got his wish, but he was so preoccupied in making his play that he had eventually forgotten what he once wanted...and without realizing it, someone was already taking away his own son.
The Sandman: A Game of You
I Woke Up and One of Us Was Crying
“Well, that everybody has a secret world inside of them.
No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside.
Inside of them they’ve all got
unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid amazing worlds.
Not just one world.
Hundred of them.
Thousands, maybe.
Isn’t that a weird thought?”
-Barbara
