Stanzas: Monthly Chapbooks October 2014: Halloween | 页面 6

Claimed My Nightmares
Dan O’Malley
I’ve seen the nightmares dance.
And the trances of masses
Contort, and shift, and rip into my flesh.
I’ve felt the nightmares twist and turn.
And the mists of chance
Dig, and slither and rip holes in my mind
Deep, copper flecked and fresh.
I’ve heard the nightmares whisper.
And the sounds of the dark
Scream and whimper and pierce my ears
Shrill, and melodic with horror so intense.
I’ve spoken to the nightmare folk.
With their dementia and sorrowful soliloquies
They haunt and lumber through my living jokes
Still, and staggered, in robes of blackened eyes.
I’ve made the nightmares mine.
When they come to me and make me freeze
I welcome them inside and see
What happens when I see their fears
And I make them welcome,
And they live here now.