Within Me

For LM and all those others who know and understand these fears (Revised)

There is a time near dawn
When Nightmare thrives,
And yet I do not sleep.
Awake!
Conscious in the dread of the mundane,
Grotesque.
Then darkness fills me -
I am gripped
By thrall of aching chasms
That gape wide
And yawn before me.
Chill descends
And I am lost.

Truly alone.

Horror seeps
Into my mind and limbs,
Spasms of gasping breath
Are all my life.

Then I scream
In silence,
But yet, my God!
I am forsaken:
It is my mind
That drags me to the dawn.

And, with sudden clarity,
The cause comes to my mind:
It is the fear of day.