The warm, wet, darkness envelopes my eyes,

My breathing slows with each chest fall and rise.

Sinking deeper and further into inky black sleep,

Losing myself into all the thoughts that I keep.

I see him whole again; the one who never will be,

He smiles and walks unburdened and carefree.

He thanks me and I fall into his warm embrace,

His elderly face forever on my memory traced.

I see her tears and the salty trails on her face,

The same hollow dead look I could never misplace,

After forty years together now so utterly alone,

“I am so sorry for your loss” echoes monotone.

The cries of the one we were too late to save,

But not late enough to be yet in the grave.

You call out for your loved ones in a pitiful plea,

How I wish you could tell them instead of me.

Piercing tones drop again with a shrill battle cry,

I’m awake and alert, nightmares on standby.