Dreams can be lighthearted

Hopeful, loving, and rare

My stress became my captor

And it bid me horrid dreams.

Night terrors of mental traps

Come to life in story form…

Faulty lights and dampened walls

A seemingly sterile path hiding the corners as dark as the secrets they hold

Scratch marks engraved by those who once fought but will never fight again

Drones of composers echo though go unrecognized

For who can name a symphony over loud, incessant cries

Home of those whose ideals didn’t match the normalcy of the outside world

Rehabilitating widows with promises of their spouse’s arrival

Curing the aggressive with a forced night’s rest

Rooms vacated at random hours

With reasons as good as rumors

Play ring around the rosy

With a fifty-year old Josey

Until you all fall down

They say it isn’t scary

It’s only temporary

Or so the wisest patients swear

Escape can be an option

Or hope that help is near

Now you can call me crazy

But help is already here.

Awakened by my shaking

And trying to catch my breath

Something came to light

My worries do not define me

Never again will I be a prisoner to stress

No dream can ever trap me

When I let myself be free.