a Poem about Fear

I can feel him hiding where the least light lies
I can feel him staring with his lidless eyes
I can feel him smiling through his blood-soaked teeth
I can feel him coming over to eat me.

I pull the sheets up to my chin and pray
I squeeze my eyes shut to keep him away
I curl into a ball and hope I can't be seen
I feel something trickle from my groin to my knee

His laugh echoes across the dark room
He leaps from his hiding-place and lands with a boom.
He scrapes the floor with his nails, making them sharp.
His eyes are red with hunger, his teeth like those of sharks.

Time for dinner, he says with glee.
I whimper, Please don't kill me...
I won't kill you, he says softly.
Then he adds, Immediately.

In womb of shadow I can just make out
His twisted shape, all turned about.
The snake-like neck, the bobbing head.
I'll see him soon, soon I'll be dead.

I lick my lips. You're not really here.
He replied, Then you've nothing to fear.
I feel him bite down on my cheek.
I swing my fists and growl and shriek.

He pulls away, tears off face-flesh.
Pain fills me up until I retch.
Everything is white and black stars.
I'm just as real as you are.

I roll out of bed, coccooned in sheets.
I wait to see horned hoofs, thorned feet.
Instead fast thoughts, faster heartbeat.
I look up into the eyes of: me.

My reflection is six feet tall.
I stand up slowly, nearly fall.
I touch my cheek--not a mark.
Maybe this was just some lark.

A cruel joke of my own making.
I laugh a bit, though I'm still shaking.
Then I slowly recall I'd recently sold
That man-sized mirror, it was too old.

I blink, I nod, it all sinks in.
I look up into His Wide Grin.