Nightmares [Poem]

Nightmares - by Tom Shaw

How can those men sleep at night,
the ones who go and abandon children?
Their hearts should be back in time for tea
but instead the children’s plates are empty.
They never see the fun of games
and thus they never know their children.
What then is left for them to dream?

How can those men sleep at night,
the ones who lead our children astray?
They bomb the parents, taking kids captive,
force-feeding them diets deficient in life
but rich in fear, hatred and rage.
They teach only that this world is pain;
that the green grass of home will cinder
and char in the hellfire of human flourishing.
They preach no God or higher self exists
and thus no body, even a child’s, is sacred.
What then is left for them to pray towards?

How can those men sleep at night,
the ones who butcher and maim our children?
They abuse power and the innocence of youth
to say their solution will satiate the hunger.
They lock them up, freak them out, line them up,
drug them up, cut them up, dress them up,
give them new names and watch them tear at
each other for some fleeting praise.
Yet all that happens is those kids become tender,
the potential in their bones ground to a pulp
while the heat of the furnace boils off the soul,
until finally those children “die suddenly”.
Vampires of men then feast on their blood.

Maybe those men do not sleep at night.
That would explain why they look like death.

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“Nightmares” was originally published via Over To The Youth in March 2023. This version is taken from my book, “Born Anew”.

Over To The Youth can be found at: overtotheyouth.com.

Artwork made with Canva using AI.
Music: Kirk Osamayo - Evil

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