Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2022 finalist Lucy Craven. Lucy finished 8th grade this past school year and wrote a poem called “When I’m Alone At Night.” Lucy said that her favorite elements were “the descriptive words, the emotion I tried to portray, and the imagery that it creates in your head.” Enjoy!
WHEN I’M ALONE AT NIGHT
By Lucy Craven
I get into my bed and close my eyes.
How am I supposed to feel?
Relaxed?
No.
I am not relaxed.
Behind my eyelids are horrors.
The day haunts me at my weakest moment.
Unprotected from my thoughts.
The day is scary.
But the night…
My mind is a spider’s web of nightmares.
I flail around like a feeble fly.
Stuck! Unable to free myself.
Lies, deceit, and fear.
Their origin held close to me.
A trap set by my betraying mind.
No.
I am not relaxed.
Within the web are contorted memories,
Purposefully changed to see the worst.
Flashes of friends
Poking and prodding
Introducing heartache to the equation
Quickly I’m plunged further into the layered nightmares.
Is there no end?
Checkmate.
I open my eyes,
Thinking I’m victorious.
Only to see
The reflective surfaces mocking me
Where I’m sitting in my bed.
Shaking.
Broken.
Fixable?
No.
My treacherous thoughts delve deeper.
Leaving behind
Stumbling into a darker area.
Gears slowly grinding,
Keeping the network moving.
Wires cross in my now mechanical mind.
Nuts and bolts won’t hold me together.
Nails loosening.
Electric sparks
Rather than those of emotion.
Scare off what I thought to be bad.
My body isn’t deceased
Only my ability to think.
When the sun awakens,
Do I sigh a breath of relief?
No.
No amount of relief is released,
When the sun awakens.
For when it rises,
So does the fear
Of it setting.
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