Fear
Night skies flash
Windows groan
Parents clash
Dinosaurs roam
Shadows hover
Bear held tight
Under the covers
A fearful night
Vanda Lockyer
Night skies flash
Windows groan
Parents clash
Dinosaurs roam
Shadows hover
Bear held tight
Under the covers
A fearful night
At night if feel anxious and my heart begins to race,
if all I want to do is weep or yell
I look outside my bedroom at that diamond-studded space,
and wait for it to cast its magic spell.
I feel the tension easing, all the pressure start to lift
and let my thinking go without a fight.
A magnet way above me sets my frazzled mind adrift
and draws it gently up into the night.
In weightless bliss I flitter with the wings of fantasy
past planets, moons and stars that no one knows.
In breathless awe I float within my private galaxy.
I’m free at last from all those earthly woes.
My mind is now uncluttered and as peaceful as can be.
It’s lost, for now, that pressing sense of gloom.
Before I even know it, it has floated back to me
from somewhere worlds and worlds beyond my room.
The magic moment passes and I’m really glad to say
I feel a little fluttering of hope.
Although I know my problems haven’t really gone away
I thank the sky for helping me to cope.
A witch flew through my window! I saw her on her broom.
One starry night, down moonbeams bright, she rode into my room!
I cried out to my mother. “A witch came in!” I screamed.
She softly said: “No, no, my dear, believe you me, there’s no witch here.
It’s just something you dreamed.”
I wanted to believe her. I’d had a nasty fright.
I said: “Please lock the window, Mum, or I won’t sleep tonight.”
Once Mum had turned the window key she tucked me back in bed.
“No need for you to worry then, no witch can frighten you again,”
My mother calmly said.
When Mum had left and dimmed the lights, I tried to close my eyes,
But found I still felt wide awake, though that was no surprise.
Quite suddenly I heard a noise! A scratching mouse or rat?
Then, while I lay there quiet and still – a dark shape on the window sill!
The witch’s jet black cat!
Monty says: The black cat, moon and starry night turned my thoughts to witches and their significance for children. The open window provided a point of entry for the narrative and the focus then became developing a suitable rhyming scheme to carry the narrative to its conclusion.
I tiptoed to the window –
suddenly I could see
the stars come marching,
blinking at me.
When I woke next morning
they had gone away,
and the dark had unwrapped
a brand new day.
(From Somewhere in the Sky, Nelson Blackie,1996)
Katherine says: When I saw your cat, moon and window full of stars for Poetry Prompt #22, I was reminded of my poem ‘Night’ and watching the stars make their slow entrance, then exit.
We have monsters in our house.
A man came today to spray them away.
I’m sure I heard the monsters laugh.
Right now they are feasting on walls and doors.
They’re gnawing and boring under the floors.
I am ten and in bed and they’re in my head.
Nibbling and wriggling,
ever closer to me.
We won’t ever leave while there’s still more to chew.
We’ll eat all the wood and then eat you!
Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #22.
Dianne says: When I was a child living in the country, our home was demolished around as we continued to live in it. This is because the house was full of white-ants. I used to lie in bed thinking that the ants would eat me during
the night if I went to sleep. I was probably about 12 at the time. This poem
reflects my anxiety back then