Long Past Bedtime

 

Tempt not the dream whose life was spurned from dancing in your mind.
This stolen chance may have it’s due to this neglect in kind.
A fertile field is innocence where sin may plant a crop.
Imagination knows no bounds so long as wishes never stop.
When I was young I dared not sleep awake I staid through out the night.
A fatigued will lead me on till the dawn of morning’s early light.
What should have been like any day took on a different feel.
For lurking just beyond my focus hid a world that was surreal.
My senses felt the mortal shell that holds my soul within.
A glimpse I caught ‘twas enough to crawl beneath my skin.
Closer came the chasm boundaries of realities fraying ledge.
A blackened void of empty thought dwelled just beyond the edge.
I heard the echoes of my prayers that comfort me to sleep.
Strung like pearls of desperation to aimlessly repeat.
Should something catch me from behind I turn to see what’s there.
In time to witness an unfamiliar place revealed before my stare.
I found my self-standing in a fog that coursed through barren trees.
As a woman dressed all in white ran through the fallen leaves.
A monument to eternity stood among rows of carved headstones.
As she slowly moved to this home I felt a deep chill within my bones.
A ravens call broke this trance to look another way.
There stretched far out was a fabled city defying the close of day.
Cauldrons of scented burning oils brightened windows and rooftop.
On gentle winds music rose and fell its chorus never stopped.
Ripe fruit sweetened every breath mixed with the taste of baked fresh bread.
Savoring the breezes wine above I gazed at airships overhead.
Towards town I walked but every step moved me farther back.
The burning flames of the homes dimmed then turned to black.
Perched high inside a stone gazebo of white marble and ivy vines.
I saw a sea of souls marched below in unbroken endless lines.
I watched them go from light to nothing a fate I did not want.
To be among the demonic specters that in my nightmares haunt.
I screamed and screamed but a drone of laughter canceled out my voice.
A path to follow I fought the urge but my freedom had no choice.
As I walked I asked aloud, “This road, its end, where does it go?”
The answer whispered close to my ear, “Surely, you must know.”
Away I ran into the dark over unseen things I fell.
I broke free from the grab and hold of claws and things I could not tell.
Then a gentle hand held me still my eyes I opened wide.
The nightmare that was but a dream went back to where it hides.
As near as I remembered it I told of what I could.
Take to sleep but not from asleep this lesson understood.