Sean B. Palmer's 115th Semantic Dream

I dreamed about a chemical wedding in which XML and Unicode gave birth to SGML, and Jon Bosak was the best man. I dreamed about a fox and a pigeon, and a stack of triples that reached into the heart of Helen of Troy, and I sighed when I was told that she was not for me.

I dreamed about seven RDF tools, and each RDF tool supported seven formats, and each format supported seven models, and each model supported seven forms of reification. I dreamed that they were all coming back from St. Ives. I dreamed that a man called Clay had eaten all 5 exabytes of human knowledge and did not want to find a restroom.

I dreamed that a friend of a friend bought me a rose which died before she even bought it. I dreamed a dream of the world telling Berners-Lee that he'd have to wait his turn, and Tim handed Aaron a book and Aaron sighed. I dreamed that we went insane and no one cared, and that he wasn't insane enough and no one cared, and that I wasn't insane enough and no one cared.

I dreamed that in time past I found paradise but that its gates were locked and I was on the inside. And the man at the gate said that I was not to help anyone on the outside, and he made me angry and fearful and desperate. And I shouted through the gates and was threatened that I'd be thrown out. I saw all those things, and will never forget them.

I dreamed that I went to Dublin, Ohio, and that someone held a mirror to my head and demanded that I describe everything in the room, but I could not see the room and I could only barely make out myself in the mirror. I dreamed that the mirror spoke to me and said that I'd save the world, but the mirror was a liar, and it was only me in the mirror anyway, the mirror wasn't real.

Then I dreamed that I walked into a unicode bar, and all the telephones had U+8728 written on them. I tried to put in a U+00BC but the telephone still did not work. And only a guy named U+0394 could explain it.

I dreamed that ten thousand were drowned who never were born, and that each of them had a weblog. I dreamed that I'd learned Chinese, but they told me that it's impossible, and anyway, who could interpret for me? Maybe Al and Len, and then I dreamed that even they couldn't.

I dreamed that an unicorn had exploded in Taiwan, and no one cared. I dreamed that April is the cruellest month. I dreamed that it was the 21st of April, and that someone special was gone—and I woke up, and it was true.

And everybody had gone. But there was still RDF.