Lions

Something feels off

I am laying on the bed and there are lions

There are also shadows with eyes and teeth

They are not friendly

But they form crooked smiles

And whisper unintelligible fears

Wrapped cleverly in shards of truth

I can taste the stench 

Of hot breaths entering my lungs

One cat brings his teeth

To my open mouth and clamps down

Pulling away the heavy air

It swallows 

Lets out a yawn

And curls up by my feet

I have to keep the lions here

The beasts are kinder than the men

Who linger while I sleep