Thursday, December 30, 2010

Night Dreaming

My little one screams
The same terror I have heard
From her
Night after night
Since she was two

"Stay away!"
"But that is mine!"
Or simply the blood-chilling
Screeching fright of being chased by a lion
Or a dark, brooding unseen thing
With a growl

I, too, have had my dreams
But when I was young
They were dreams of flight
Of escape from the ground
A gentle lifting off from rooftops
A soft, not-too-sad goodbye before I floated away
To a kinder place
On my own

Listening to my daughter
When I reach for her
And whisper words to end the dream
I wonder why
Her dreams are not like mine
Why she can't fly,
But why she runs instead from unseen fears

Have I made her life that fearful
When I'd hoped to make her happy?
Not like me when I was young,
Afraid of everything around me
When my dreams were ended, my eyes opened.

Perhaps I had no need
For more fear
Perhaps my dreams allowed me to escape
The fears I knew too well.

Perhaps my daughter
To be human
Must fear something
Even something she cannot see, or name,
But she does not wish
To escape her life, her fearsome life,
As I once did.

3 comments:

  1. One of my kids did that. Luckily, he outgrew it pretty fast. It was scary.

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  2. I would rather her fear now and then grow to fear nothing. There is no running or flying away from the fearsome but there is turning to face it and then beat the snot out of whatever is trying to dump a load on you.

    Hold her while she wakes and whisper to her when her eyes are open your love and protection.

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  3. Very nice... it kept me reading, and then wanting more.

    Fear is in all of us, and learning to deal with it, is what makes us stronger.

    Happy New Year, and thx for the post.

    ReplyDelete