my nightmares and me

Tiredness casts a veil over my life

I live in a sleep world of 

Nightmares and distant dreams 

A realm of possibility where 

Only the worst things happen

But I survive 

Each and every trial, miraculously 

   I lose control of the car

   Gas pedal stuck, brake pedal far

   Steering wheel foreign 

   Spiral of a road up ahead

   Speeding wildly off a bridge

   But I open my eyes and 

   I am safe in bed 

      Awake with a thump 

      At the top of my chest 

      Gasping ferociously for 

      The breath I didn’t think I’d get

      Did it happen all in my head?

      It happens again

      And again and again 

         Glass treads without risers

         Suspended in air 

         Ascending to nothing, nothing but fear 

         Sure they will shatter under my weight 

         I stay stuck there, high in space 

         Until I wake 

         In my safe place 

      Still in the comfort of my 

      Cotton sheets, down duvet 

      Wrapped around me 

      Warmth and softness 

      So momentary 

      Until I drift back to the

      Unwanted fantasy  

   There is a tiger in a cage 

   Under lock and chain 

   But somehow it’s fallen away 

   A quick game of predator and prey 

   What doom awaits me if I stay?

   My eyelids flutter 

   Deep in a slumber 

Until I’m roused by a sudden alarm

Unrested and wrestled 

By imaginary harm 

If only my mind could give me some peace

If only my sleep were a sleep 

Worth dreaming 

But it's always my nightmares and me