Night Terrors

Night Terrors

Day 4 of 30 Days of Poetry

A horizon just before sunrise, the land dark, the sky shading from orange through gold to a deepening blue. A few long, narrow, dark clouds parallel the horizon, accentuating the coloured bands of the sky.
I watch the night approach with wary eyes,
The time when legion tiny fears with bold
Defiance coalesce. I bate my cries,
While deep in strangled guts my blood runs cold.

A thousand icy raindrops trickle down
The arching column of my naked spine
And pool their leaden weight: wishes drown
Bequeathing butterflies with aim malign.

In fields of dreams run nightmares, pounding hooves
A drummed tattoo that shakes the shadow ground
Releasing wraiths: their terrifying moves
Sketch promised horrors, banshee screams resound

Until the golden light of dawn brings calm:
I wipe my fevered brow with sunshine's balm.