Wakefulness from nightmares does not feel safe,
nor clearly defines the life we make,
nor effortlessly guides the steps to take
while we try to stay awake
the day after nightmares reign.
The last person to fear, by those whose dreams allow
peace, security, joy and love…somehow…
are those of us who wake from dreams with screams,
and recognize the loss of hope
which forces us to stay woke
lest we descend once again
into nightmares which never end.
The American dream may be the goal
of those who dream peacefully all night long,
as well as those whose dreams unfold
as nightmares left from days of old,
and from the streets left bare
by poverty, racism and despair.
Waking cannot be a sin
for only those whose dreams begin
in sorrow and pain.
Does not every one of us awake?
Are only those who dream sweet dreams
allowed to waken in the morning light
and not have too explain
it is their right
to stay awake?
Attacking those who awake from nightmares
instead of dreams may merely be a way
to keep some within the nightmare world
any sane person would hope to flee.
We are each entitled to awake and greet the day.
Dreamers of dreams or nightmares,
we are all the same.
I am I, and you are you, when we are asleep.
And, when we wake. I am you and you are me,
those who waken to the same day
after long nights of life on display.
in nightmares or in dreams.
Then, morning dawns with sun’s fierce stroke.
Suddenly, we are both woke.
annarino writes 