NIGHTSOUNDS

Do you remember

lying in the dark

after your parents left the room

the things you heard

voices

murmuring like water

aching silences

the old house groaning and creaking

like a camel kneeling

into the earth.

Do you remember

how visions came shining

out of the dark

as you lay there listening

to the thud of your blood

steady in your head,

watching

waiting for that moment, that edge

where the land ends

and you drop into the sea of sleep--

but every night

you went from waiting to waking

your head surfacing into the morning

returning to the voices

shaking water from your eyes

emerging

carrying remnants of dreams

beaded, glistening on your skin.

~~Daphne Slocombe

WRITING PROMPT:

Write about a recurring dream you had in childhood. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the dream; use all of your senses as you write, so that your reader can be there too.