Nightmare

A nightmare gallops,

From behind the shadows,

Across the muddy fields

Of my consciousness,

Like a war horse

Charging into battle,

Trampling all sense of hope.

As each coronet sinks into the dirt

My core rattles;

I quiver...

The cadence of every fourth beat

Beguiles me,

I’m paralysed;

Defenceless...

At every suspension

My heart seizes...

I anticipate obliteration

As she stampedes toward me.

But with every break

In her thunderous gait

I begin to realise that

My insecurities are her farriery

My fears are the hay

That fuels her brio

My odium is the dam

That birthed her.

She rears before me

But I’m unfazed,

Planted...

As she settles

I embrace her.

She is green...

Untamed

I mount her

Grasp her mane

And suddenly,

The nightmare

That once evoked

A bitterness within me...

This shadow

That once made me cower

Is now the source

Of my enlightenment

And slowly,

Socks...

Then a snip...

Then a blaze...

I find myself mounted

On a white steed

Of illumination

And just before the dawn,

I sleep soundly

©José V. Guerra Awe