Hâsir builds the poem around a repeated opening, "In my sleep," "In my life," "In my dreams," and each time the phrase leads somewhere different. The first stanza is the darkest. The speaker hears screams at night, from prisoners and from babies who have lost their parents. These sounds follow them into sleep, which suggests they can't be shut out.
The second stanza turns to waking life. The speaker has seen people hurt others for profit, and also people who help without wanting anything back. Repeating the line "In my life, I saw people" makes the two sides feel equally real, as if the speaker refuses to give up on human kindness.
The last stanza imagines a better world. People fly like birds, and no one is jailed for their thoughts. The mood moves from fear to sadness to a quiet, stubborn hope. The dream is simple and tender, and its wish for freedom of thought hints at what the speaker most wants and most misses.