Nightmares Reawakened

Sleeping, dreaming
Comforted by layers of
Comforters,
The iron dome,
A security fence,
The hand of God

Pierced
Eyes open
The sound of the siren
Dawning, awakening
A race to a safe room

That never truly felt safe
From the slam of the door
Echoing the knocks of Nazis
2023 or 1943?
Their racing footsteps
Like the gallop of horses
Of Cossacks,
of Greeks,
of Romans
Babylonians

Bullets and busted doors
Blood and bloodied blankets
Children hiding, peering,
behind bodies of shelter
Their dreams exploding
Nightmares unfolding

Evil unleashed
Unburdened, overbearing
Filling truckloads for the family
To see the prize of humanity
Shuffled and shuttled
On trucks and carts
Across desolate lands
Filled with desolate hearts

Then dropped
Below ground
Past the gates of hell
Scurried like mice
Through tunnels, a web
Tortured by thoughts
Of the bed they just fled

Uncertainty reigns
For the ones who remained
Eyes opened by the flash
Of airplanes that have crashed
Into skyscrapers
On God’s soil
9/11, 10/7
The shock of a nation

Turning to the news
The media, the posts
Expecting condemnation
Of the evils
Of this nation
But the nightmare spreads
The dread of the unread
The good condemned,
And to evil, hearts bend

And we –
We still try to dream
Of an end to nightmares
Of age-old knocks on the door
And footsteps of dread
To lives lived and loved
On soil bequeathed
To a hope that evil
Won’t penetrate
With missiles
And missives of beasts

That the sun will still rise
Without a siren’s cry
And the baby will willingly
Open it’s eyes
To a mother’s embrace
Wrapped in comforters of love
Of hope, of peace
Of dreams promised from Above