Night Terror

This poem is called Night Terror. Night terror is about Night Terror disorder which is a sleep disorder. There is Night Terror Disorder and then there is Nightmare Disorder. The differences between the two are that in Night Terror Disorder, the nightmare occurs only an hour into your sleep cycle, while in Nightmare Disorder it occurs much later into your sleep cycle. Also, in Night Terror Disorder you often don't remember what the terror was about once you wake up. In Night Terror Disorder you often wake startling an hour into your sleep, suddenly rising with a traumatic frightening stare. It looks like you are awake but their surroundings are nonexistent as they are traumatically preoccupied with the occurrence of the terror. It is a very frightening disorder to those who experience the terrors and to those who have to witness the trauma. Being a therapist, I often take disorders such as Night Terror Disorder and write poetry about them to help me learn about the disorder.

I recline unrestrained in a grave repressive room,
phlegmatically,
as if my mind has declined into a tomb;
Jaded peepers are encompassed, as I vanish into sleep,
I contemplate a shimmer streaking through my earliest dream;
Murky in nightfall, no delineation of what lives,
contorted but authentic, it is capable of sin;
Accumulating impetuously through my reflection each night,
incessantly I ascend, arise in flight.

"What interlocking iniquity has trespassed through
endless canyons of my mind?
What is this intruding evil skulking,
scheming to leave me behind?

Obligatory restlessness fluctuates my flesh from a distance,
clatters windows and walls
with invigorating existence;
Oppressiveness prevails, as I find it baffling to see,
the inattentive, personifying voice
sounds ever sufficiently like me;
There is no indication, any whisper that I can tell,
if I am intimidated an hour in to my yell.

"Indulge brandished spirit,
unhand this madness unto it's end;
Release me unharmed with a manned prayer to live again".

My eyes stagnate into a broad receptive daze,
staring like a moron into the realms of space;
Black indented corneas,
porcelain frames whitely painted,
born of shadows, skulls mysteriously fainted;
Bawling horrendously to silence life in my breath,
shrieking cries hound around my head;
Peculiar situation never imagined before,
until these dwelling fiends darkened my door.

"What interlocking iniquity has trespassed through
endless canyons of my mind?
What is this intruding evil skulking,
scheming to leave me behind?
Indulge brandished spirit,
unhand this madness unto it's end;
Release me unharmed with a manned prayer to live again".

Uncomfortable expiring drift, amok, from dead dark to first dawn,
suddenly my cask opens,
"befall!" Dusk is gone;
After minutes of perspiration, calmness purifies me with time,
as remarkably but lethargically
I open the shades of my eyes;
Miracle stricken, my heart is still ticking,
in my room I reside,
remembrance but a spec of dust out of reach,
no clues or wonder of why.

Paul Hickey
11-11-11