A Vivid Nightmare, And The 2003 Film Identity

A stranger approaches two people,

A so-called good Samaritan.

He follows them down the narrow corridors of a rectangular hotel,

Conversing, filling them with unease.


Person One says to their friend, ‘I’m scared.

Do you think we should sleep barricaded against the door?’

Person Two says: ‘I don’t know.

That might trap us and there’ll be no way of escape.’


The scene changes; the two people are in a different corridor.

Newspaper articles materialise, each denouncing the Stranger,

Accusing him of deadly crimes, of dangerous intent.

He is no friend.


The scene changes again,

And law enforcement officers storm the building with a bang.

I am no longer an observer,

But one of the friends, locked outside the building,

And I spot the stranger, the so-called good Samaritan,

Hiding close by, aiming a gun at me,

Ready to fire.


And then, I bolt forward in bed with a shout.

A dream.

It’s about three thirty in the morning,

And I’m too scared to go back to sleep.