ich schlafe

friends and enemies.
All in your mind.
Only true if someone else believes it too.
shaking again.
The thought alone.
But the soft glow of the fake world flickers.
Soothing in its madness.
Deft. Smooth. Fantastic.
Vicariously. Vicariously.
The shaking... The shaking...
The shaking slowly softens.
And darkness fights from the fringe.

But not yet.

Inside: swirl. stop. drop.
Fall back to the beginning.
And let it go...
Back away on the beat of the bass drum.
quarter. Quarter. QuaRTeR. QUARTER.
Triplet-eighth?!
Again!
Three notes in the place of one.
And the tag on the end.
Goddamn.
Turn it down.
turn it off.
Settling back... shaking still.
Silence is better anyhow.
The darkness moves again.
The attack redoubled.
From the front.

But not yet.

The colors coalesce.
Fade to black. And back again.
Meld and Merge.
Hand-lettered reality on a pallet of four.
Points and pixels placate.
Eternally internally the drum beats on.
And Truth rallies.
The illusion: shockingly shattered.
shaking... shaking...
Inside drops; crashing down.
The shadow. Emboldened.
The darkness. Encroaching.
Creeping. Biding. Secure.
The outcome decided.
Succumb.
The shaking subsides.

Dreaming, the battle begins anew.