red thread

Hello all, I could really use your help. I've had a long week so as soon as I got home, it was bedtime. After what felt like hours of restless tossing a turning (in reality more like only a few), I finally drifted off. Something was there waiting for me.

It started dark and weightless, floating in the abyss. Soon, I noticed a RED glow below and it rose quickly to meet me. Bracing for a harsh impact, I screwed my eyes shut but it never came. Normally you wake at this point, body seizing briefly and mind stunned with the vivid memory of the seconds before impact. Not this time however.

Tentatively, I open my eyes to find myself once more upon the RED silken web of threads stretching off into the distance. After collecting myself, and steeling my nerves I rose and began wander. My every move sending ripples along the threads off and out of sight.

For what seems like hours I was lost on the web until I noticed it. The threads began to shift, not of my disturbance, but of some other. A normal person might have been concerned of what their movements might do, of what they might alert, but in dreams we are not always so caring. Cursing my laxity, and ice running through my veins, I looked wildly around trying to find the source, my companion. It was closing in, the threads dancing wildly as I felt the approach but nothing could be seen. Then all at once, it was still and quiet.

Crouching, casting about trying to find my unseen companion, all I could hear was the thunder of my heart, and the ragged terrified breath in my lungs. All I could see were the RED fibers upon which I perched. Then it came, right in my ear, barely a whisper of a woman's voice:

"The Crescent city below the waves,
In Aurelianum's legacy, the rules obey,
The residents sing and fated calf parade,
Where danger lurks and threats charade.

In hushed embrace of night’s sweet song,
Where souls of lovers linger long,
The tides turn red and lives are taken,
Those not of this time do waken.

In echoes of the past, they do dwell,
Beneath the tolling of the bell,
With secrets wrapped in twilight’s veil,
What whispers call the night to sail?"

With an irresistible force, again it shoved me off the web. I awoke again in a cold sweat, bolting upright in my disheveled bed. To my dismay, it had only been a few minutes. There was no way I could go back to sleep tonight, so I fixed a pot of Folgers and hopped on the forum to post this dream before the dream fades and I miss any details.

What could it mean? The last dream lead me here, so it must have some real meaning. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at riddles so I turn to you all for help. Can anyone help decipher the message? What are they trying to tell us?

Aurelianum sounded like something named for the Roman Emperor Aurelian. I had a look through a couple books I have on the subject and it turns out to be the old Roman name for the city of Orleans in France. Beyond that I'm at a loss for now. Is the crescent city a nickname or a descriptive? I've never heard Orleans referred to by that name. I'll have a look in the library if I get a chance today. This has me intrigued.

I'd like to remind everyone that we generally want to avoid discussing dreams or nightmares in detail. Please know that if you do so, and you engage with such posts, you do so at your own risk.
Keep in mind that each of the forum rules were hard learned lessons. Proceed with luck and caution.

Right, of course.

That being said.
I desperately want to know what this means. I've been thinking about it all day.

Sorry Niks, not sure how I missed that rule. I'll keep it in mind going forward. However, I think so long as we don't delve into the symbology of the dream, we should be able to decipher the riddle.

Wow PenOfDamocles, I've never heard of that emperor, Great find!

I've been mulling it over for a few days. Could those dwelling in the past awakening mean ghosts? Ive heard ghost stories saying they're tied to their time/lives.

Could be. Though what would cause a spirit to awaken?

Plenty could. Being exposed to situations that are reminiscent of what they went through, being contacted/invoked/let in through an open "window", something of theirs being taken or broken or found. Think about anything that gets you riled up and imagine it's the same for them. They're all just people, after all. People hidden between motes of dust.

plenty could yes, but within the context of the dream, if anything the line before suggests perhaps whatever these beings hypotheticaly are were awoken by lives being taken. Perhaps they were invoked through a ritual, perhaps they seek vengeance of some kind due to the act.