Sleepless

I try to sleep but they just won't let me 

I close my eyes tight and beg them not to start

They whisper things and make me see

Like memories I've never had they pull at my heart

It starts slowly but builds to a roar

As they twist my mind and bring me despair

Somewhere deep inside me they've opened the door

Beckoning me follow down that demented stair

The things they show me scare me at first

Images and thoughts unbidden and dark

I shout "go away! You'll make my heart burst!"

As I sit up in bed and my dog wakes with a bark

She's looking for an intruder but we are alone

Looks at me quizzically and settles back to sleep

I finally give up and I decide to grab my phone

I type out the words they've driven so deep

Sometimes even that doesn't satisfy them

And they plague me throughout the night

With dreams and images of carnage and mayhem

They rape my mind and I sleep with my fright

These inner demons think they own my mind

But sometimes I win the battle if I just write 

Yet sometimes the only solace I find 

Is when I'm sleeping later that night

I sometimes name my nightmares before I ride them

Through the hills and valleys of my own sorrow

Ravaging my own thoughts and creating bedlam

While somehow just praying that I'll wake tomorrow.