A Nightmare

The fog is almost solid
Like a wall of soft, white cotton
A confused cloud of stop and stare,
A very mixed up situation.

I look around to find the answer,
The one that makes some sense.
But when my eyes are open
The fog is still intense.

I can’t see where I’m going
I don’t remember where I’ve been.
All I know is that right now,
I have to clean up the mess I’m in.

Then, finally, some light filters
Through a great hole in the cloud!
I look up into the light
To see what I have found.

And what I see is people
All of them crowded ‘round.
None of them are moving
And no one makes a sound.

They all are different people
But they all look the same.
Their faces all contorted
Into an awful mask of pain.

I turn my head this way and that,
Trying to find an upturned mouth.
I’m looking for a smile,
In a sea of frozen frowns.

But a happy face I cannot find
In this place of great despair.
I look up into the heavens,
And take a long lungful of air.

And when I wake I’m screaming
And sitting upright in my bed.
Remembering all the faces
In the dream that I just had.