-- Nomadic Ghosts –

John Herlihy

Where do dreams betake themselves,

When they quit the slumberer’s brain?

Nomadic ghosts pretending to be elves,

As the dreamer awakens to feel the drain.

Into the netherworld of sleep, unannounced,

The ghostly specters dangle tempting bait.

In timelessness, their obscure tale pounced,

In this land of unsubstantial things to relate.

The imposing night of dreams offers obscurity,

The will of the dream upon the dreamer imposed.

Driftwood on a shoreless sea without any surety,

A funereal dirge of the human psyche composed.

When we awaken, we thank Heaven they are gone,

With no desire such nightmarish fantasy to prolong.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Sunday 29 August 2021