before bed time

full title: the inferno shouldnt be read before bed time poem is written in pantoum form.

In an instant, I feel the dark weight sitting on my chest
Preventing me form catching a full breath.
My lightless room disguises
A shadow figure here with intentions.

I can’t catch a full breath.
Gasping like a flopped fish out it’s bowl,
That shadow is here, hurting.
Screaming is useless, kicking does nothing.

Gasping for one more taste of air.

My arms, pinned above my head, knuckles scraping headboard
Kicking does nothing, screams of empty sound
This phantom of shadows laughs at my struggle
Scraped knuckles against a head board,
He whispers, “nex mos non exsisto velox”
A faceless phantom laughing at my frenzied struggle.

Hot, stinking breath.

His Latin whisper makes me try again.
Twisting, turning, writhing, anything to get free.
Hot stinking breath clouding my face
Eyes still struggling for sight in the dark
Desperate attempts to get free.
Sounds of duct tape ripping off the roll
Struggles against something I still can’t see.

It’s not until a phone rings, my monster disappears.
The sound of duct tape ripping still echoes in my ears
The weight that held me down, gone
A phone to wake me and make it go away
Now awake and in a lightless room, I shut my eyes, in fear of the shadows

Author's Note

**nex mos non exsisto velox is Latin for "death will not be quick"

Reviews

[Susan S.]

Yep! It does indeed do that to you. Well... it did the first two times I read it. The most recent time I thought the story was quaint. My how age changes a person!

Actually, It looks more like the latin says "Oblivion will not be quick." But don't trust me. I've only had church latin.

The piece seems a bit long. You repeat your struggle several times. I suppose that could be so that the struggle seems interminable, as those things do when you are asleep. "To die, to sleep... To sleep?! Perchance to dream! Aye, that's what makes tragedy of such long life. For who would suffer the pains and toil of long life if by dying you could end them?" A badly miss-quoted Shakespeare.