A Prayer for a Nightmare

O’ demons of fire, minions of fright,
Do your worst as I sleep this night.

Shake my bed, unloose my sheets,
Compel my heart to thundering beats.
Make the sweat on my forehead bead,
My knuckles clench and pillow knead.

Cradle me in your terrible grasp
Of dreaded midnight phantasie.

For the moment I wake your power fades,
Your darkness lifting with open shades.

But when I dream of my Chloe dear,
My waking bears me no relief.
Her kiss lingers on my lips for days,
And trembling cold in ghastly fear,
Her laughter echoes in my ear.

O’ demons of fire! O’ Minions of fright!
I pray for your worst as I sleep this night!

Written Circa 2004

This is a poem from what I call the Chloe series… The most torturous period of my romantic life that poetically resulted in something of an homage to the great Latin poet Catullus and his painful and passionate love affair with one he named Lesbia.

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