these late night fears like ghosts that haunt my mind

By Adam J. Pearson

these late night fears like ghosts that haunt my mind
in twilight hours when sleep will not arrive,
loop in great arcs with ancient thoughts to drive
them on in circles seen a thousand times.

their stories scream in threats, what ifs, and mights,
that tell of how I’ll fail and not survive,
no matter how much I push on and strive,
such storms rage on and chase sleep from my eyes.

sometimes I feel these thoughts sweep me away,
into their tales of futures never past,
and feel emotions that can grip me fast,
as if their threats were true now and would last.

and yet, these terrors, based on empty threats,
are mere illusions, born of thoughts unreal.
these wisps of nothing seem like hardened steel,
but hold no sway unless I make them real.

all I can do is watch the flow of waves
of fearful thoughts that try to make me slave,
pretending that with caution they will save
me from the threat of death, an early grave.

sometimes, I laugh and smile in their face,
and tell them I’ll fight on ’til my last breath,
and that my will is stronger than each threat,
I move on fiercely through the fear, and yet…

these late night fears, like ghosts, still haunt my mind
in twilight hours when sleep will not arrive;
they loop in arcs with ancient thoughts to drive
them on in circles seen a thousand times.

Read More from Adam Pearson at http://philosophadam.wordpress.com/