Books and banter by W.H.Manke

I venture to guess that at one time or another we all experience a nightmare.  Intriguing to me is the fact that waking up seems not to end the nightmare right away, but prolongs it and maybe even heightens it for a time.  A few years ago, after that kind of a dream, I tried to capture the nightmare phenomenon in a poem.  I found the task daunting.  That end product haunts this page below.

Nightmares

Dark,
stormy nights
hide calming
heaven’s lights.
Hidden
high above
the hawking void
places no soul should
penetrate alive.
Dreams flee
and nightmares stray
where troubled souls
will venture.
There to torment
the innocent heart
lost in silent cries

Alone

      once waking,
the ticking
of the clock
cries out,
“It isn’t so!”
And mind roams
slowly toward day.
Considers unreal hours
Spent in helpless chaos
and from past terrors
strives to break free.
Though night has passed,
yet instinctive thoughts
haunted by terror’s claim.
Until dawn brings comfort.
Light hides the night,
relieving the heart
and mind’s torment and
healing the troubled soul.