Dreams live
Behind the eyelids
Of a sleeping child

Fantasy in full colour
SPeaking whatever truth
The dreaming child wishes to know.

Nightmares live
Behind the eyelids
Of a troubled child

Clouds in the mind
Leave the eyes to
The unseen

Pain makes touch
Vulnerable
While sound is lost

To screams

The smell is of fear
While hopes fall like bad memories
Onto the child's heart

Straining it,
Weighing it to the floor,
Next to the broken spirit

The child is rescued from this nightmare
Only by the rage of his father,
The shattering of glass,
And the slam of a door

Awake, and alone, this child wishes to sleep again.
It knows that the nightmare is,
At least

Only a dream