An Hour Past Day

An Hour Past Day

I can’t turn without looking back,

I keep my hands up in case of attack. 

In the time it takes me to turn my head,

You could’ve fired and left me for dead. 

Every path that I tread and glance I spare,

Leaves me crazy and gasping for air. 

Uncertainty creeps in just like a thief,

Clouding my vision and giving me grief. 

We’re both stuck in a burning house,

I know I’m the cat but I feel like the mouse. 

I can hear you breathing down my neck,

Just like a ship with a ghost on the deck. 

I jump at every voice in the night,

Like I’m ready to swing or to start a fight.

And not even the monsters under my bed

Can distract me from the ones in my head. 

The screaming cuts the dark like a knife,

Promising pain and the taking of life. 

Nothing known can put me to sleep

Because of the fear I’ve decided to keep. 

Guilty memories drag me down;

The chain on my leg when I start to drown. 

The only thing left that I can feel is fright,

And the dock isn’t close to being in sight. 

The waters above and the powers that be,

Know I can’t make it if I’m stuck with me. 

So cast me away and leave when I’ve died,

And say all that matters is that you tried.