The Nightmare

A piercing scream rips apart the fabric of sleep;

velvet night lies torn and fragmented on the landscape of dreams.

A child’s disturbed slumber.

Insomnia, my familiar, settles comfortably, ingratiatingly, unwelcome.

Considers herself an old friend, a paramour, a regular bedmate, soul sister of dubious intent.

I hate her. I know her so well. She is stale and stiff, hot and cold, left to right,

Dark getting light.Tossing and turning.

Tied like a mummy in Jeff Banks sheets, tangled and tightly wrapped.

Minute marker, clock watcher, curtain puller.....wearily pillow pushing and duvet dragging.......

.....longing for peace.

Slowly, subtly, sleep creeps up unawares. Washes over me in soft ,soothing waves.

Darkness.

My nightmare is worse still.

Beyond all control, all will, hell breaks loose.

Too many legs, fast runner, clever, black-menace-eight-eyed-face.

Crawling all over me, fast, scuttling and web-weaving.

An age old horror, past lives know the story, the reason, the poison.

Deep in the hinterland of the primeval memory lies the imprint of threat,

setting the scene of death and the stinging bite of the

spider.