Nightmares

You come and you lean into my air
And if I said you were nothing,
You wouldn’t believe me.

I’m not so young anymore, am I?
Not so easily terrified,
There is nothing under my bed
Worse than what could come through my window,
So all I have left is steeling myself.

So you come back now, do you?
You expect some grand welcome,
But you don’t scare me like you used to.
I’ve moved beyond the grip of you,
And I bought a flashlight
That I never need to use.

Maybe there’s some gratitude,
Old dream of mine,
For the nights that stole my sleep,
And I woke up drowning in my sheets,
Because I knew someone would always come.

You gave me something from all the nights
I made my way down the hall,
Eyes closed because
If you can’t see what you might see,
You can’t see it and aren’t as scared.

You drew me to their room,
And I’d stand at the foot of the bed
Watching their shadows change with their breaths,
Crying quietly against the floor.

But you can’t come now as my nightmare,
I’ve grown too much for that.
If you want to come as a memory,
Then by all means,
Go right ahead.