as i sleep

 As I sleep

As I sleep

I hear the creep of footsteps 

Distant past, close at heart.

No shadows cast.

Something just ahead 

Calls and calls again

The weight of my body

Holds me slack

My tongue knots

Screaming back

No consolation 

From the gathering crowd

Familiar yet not.

Then

Silence.

I stare into the space above

Drowning 

Light pushes me deeper

To waking.

Who am I to walk in such places?

Old faces, strange spaces.

To which there is no return.