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 

Soft 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