NIGHTMARE

Every night the nightmare waits,
Haunting, taunting, my mind it baits.
Staying up late, not wanting to sleep,
But my date with the nightmare, I have to keep.

I drink late at night to keep the horrors at bay,
But this nightmare of mine just won’t go away.
I awake in a sweat, my head feels like bursting,
Reach for the bottle, for a drink I’m thirsting.

Desperately searching to set my mind free,
And hold back the horror that still haunts me.
The nightmare recedes to the back of my mind,
As in the bottle some comfort I find.

But I know it’ll be back to haunt me again.
How much longer can I endure this pain?
No longer able to sleep, I’m wide awake
Waiting out the hours until daybreak.

As the dawn approaches, I stumble from bed,
Memories of the nightmare spinning my head.
Somehow I manage to get through the day,
Oh God please won’t you send it away.

What have I done to suffer this way?
How much longer do I have to pay,
For the sins of a country that sent me to war?
I gave my all but you still want more.

 

By Lee O’Neill
©Copyright 19 August 1998

 

 

FILE PHOTO: Self medicating. Photo by Brian Hartigan.

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