A Nightmare Poem by Patti Masterman

She hears the knock and she freezes-
Though faint; it was such a small noise.
Is it this, the thing she's been fearing?
Should she open, does she have a choice?

She moves to the door much too slowly
As though water must part, where she goes.
She opens a crack, and there he stands.
She's aghast, for he still wears those clothes.

And it's him, and of that there's no question,
And his eyes are too shiny and bright;
There's an odor too, that she shrinks from,
A certain way that he bends, from the light.

‘Darling, it's me’; holds his hands out;
He's given her autonomy,
She can go to him or she can hang back now,
So why doesn't she feel that she's free?

What's wrong, he says, with his brown eyes
That always made her think of the deer,
But something's not right, and its presence
Has left an unspeakable fear.

Like a husk that's covering a wolf,
That’s wearing some camouflage,
She blinks her eyes twice to clear them,
For he feels just like a mirage.

‘I went to your funeral last Friday, ’
She says, one tear stuck in an eye;
The other got free, though she struggled-
And why did it feel like a lie?

‘I'm not dead, as you see, ’ he said boldly
And he stood there, probing her eyes.
‘Don't question our good luck, my darling;
I said it would be not goodbye.’

The room is swimming in waves now
And he reaches out to steady her hand.
‘We were both in the wreck, you remember,
And they took us away, in the van.’

Then suddenly breath seems to leave her,
As the meaning of his words arrive:
He was dead in the van at it's leaving-
And she too, was no longer alive.

She looks at his face then with wonder,
Perplexed what will happen to them,
And he bends down and kisses an ear lobe
And he whispers, ‘But death’s now our friend..’