Afraid of the Dark

When I was a little kid I was afraid of the dark. I dreaded bed time everynight and when finally forced to turn off the lights , it took me two steps to get from the light switch, all to the way to my bed. I used to to make my mom kneel beside the bed and pray with me. My hands clasped together tight, trying to hold what little bit of light might be left floating around in my room And after a delayed amen She tell me Go to sleep you've got school in the morning But I couldn't sleep And even now As a senior in high school I'll go home Wishing my mom could kneel beside the bed and pray with me Because in a few more nights I'll be walking across the stage Having a diploma and responsibility dropped into my hands like a pillow To hard to help me sleep on Tonight I'll question closing and opening my eyes Because either way I'd see the same thing And either way I'd have a bad dream When i was younger , the items in my room would to mutate in the grasp of night My teddy bears turned to clown faces Ceiling fans to sharp swords And now, those same teddy bears turn into college mascots Ceiling fans spinning showing how quick this year will go by My TV screen, a gaint display of the gpa it takes to get into the university of Florida When I was younger , I'd jump from bad dreams in a cold sweat Cluching my blanket like a safety net Sprinting to go to my mother's room with legs like Bambi and goose bumps riding down my back Id say mommy I had a dream and I was with all of my friends and a monster took them away Mom I'm scared Can I sleep in your bed ? And now , as a senior in highschool I'll go home and have a bad dream Where a monster, as tall as the sat scores it takes to get into UCLA arms as wide as the distance I'll be from my family Teeth as sharp as a goodbye to all the people I love as we go separate ways I'm not afraid of the monster I'm afraid I can't defeat the monster They expect us to be kings of the classroom when we still have to raise our hands to go to the bathroom They expect us to assign a career tothe rest of our lives When we still get assigned seating during class time But in early May, They'll expect us to drop our blankies When this whole time we've been being treated like babies But no pacifier can silence the roar of adulthood No nursery rhyme to rock-a-bye the the mountains we'll have to climb The training wheels are about to come off, and i don't know the difference between falling And failing But mom I'm afraid Mom I'm scared Mom.. I'm afraid of the dark And tonight instead of kneeling beside the bed and praying with me or telling me how bad I need to get some sleep for school in the morning... Please Show me how to make the darkness.. Afraid of me.