Awake

Drifting from sleep to dreadful awakening,
Consciousness surges then recedes back to black.
Thursday the second, or is it just Wednesday?
Time drips from a faucet he has yet to fix.
Dreaming the dream of eternal slumber,
Responsibilities hit him in waves.

Drop Billy at school then on to the office.
The Beetleman contract must be done by ten.
Mortgage is late and now so is he.
Car runs like hell, insurance premium's way over due.
Why must everyday start with such panic?
Such scraping and clawing for a breath of fresh air?
Smothered by promises, unkept obligations,
Why can't life flow on without him today?

No response given, frustration subsiding,
He floats back into the calm murky depths.
The liquid warmth of the space that surrounds him
Forms droplets of worry on his unwrinkled brow.
Soon she'd be yelling, hell would be breaking,
So leaving this heaven, he opens his eyes.

Impenetrable blackness.
Was he still sleeping?

Attempting to wipe the dream from his head
His knuckles knock against a tightly sealed lid.
Lying with Fear in a plush little box
A thought
--buried--
Now starts to arise.

The darkness constrains him,
Confines and contains him.
Thrashing and splashing in restricted motion,
He wriggles on satin that ripples and squirms.
Choking on panic, he digs in the darkness
Of cushions and stuffing and splintering wood.

Finger nails bloodied, teeth broken from gnawing,
He hears the ominous thunder of his own beating heart.
Eyes glazed and widened,
He drifts in the blackness,
Sinks in submission and
Drowns in the dark.

coptright2007 T. Ewing