Binding Fear Poem by Chima Ononogbu

I know fear, I know its terror,
I know it so well it stings like a stingray.
It has no arms but grips so tight,
Until it squeezes its victim to a stoop.

Fear comes to fight, when least expected;
It hits you down and keeps you down.
It is the thief that creeps in at night,
Unraveling your world, and out you bow.

During its storms, the mind is its sky,
Where it hibernates, breeds and grows,
Shutting off the sun that shines in your world.
And everything else, it freezes on a dime.

I know fear, and all its ways, cunning ways,
That make you think,
The way you feel is the way you ought to feel,
But in actuality, it wraps you about its spell.

Every so often, voices are silenced,
Ambitions shackled, hopes are dashed,
Even dreams, go lame and waste.
All for fear, the ghost in the mind!

Fear is real like it is not real,
If you let it in, it makes you afraid;
Afraid of the heights you can climb,
Afraid of the miles you can walk.

To bind fear, nip it in the bud.
It barks and yelps like a wild dog on a leash,
But the calmer you are, the quieter it grows,
Be your bold self and up it goes, a whiff of air.