Nightmare

With a strange sense of foreboding I opened my eyes.
A myriad of plaited visions greeted my hypnotic gaze.
So real to touch,
Yet all a fantasy of sleepy thoughts.
Crashing through the branches of my fear,
A breathless tiger stands over me.
It licks my face,
And the stench of its panting mouth fills my senses with the nausea of the dying.
But then it is gone,
And a fiery knight with scimitar sight towers high above me on a steed of darkest night.
The winged invader turns,
And with one blow from his hammer fist gallops starwards on a quest of ignoble intent.
Leaving me in silence now,
As all around the lights diminish, one by one,
And the Devil beckons me into his mire.
Deeper and deeper into the slime I slither.
At first I struggle,
But then I am resigned.
If I should die in this dankest hour,
Please waken me so softly that I could barely feel your touch,
For that is all I would need to return to your place,
Until I should dream once more.