Last Whispers, Lost Life

Sleep, I fear you,
For in your depths
I lose myself,
I lose love,
Layers of cynicism,
And pale shards
Of nothing me.

Sleep, I fear you,
For with you
You bring dreams,
You bring hope
And unerring happiness,
You bring a buried me.

Sleep, I fear you,
For last night
I saw real madness,
The kind I had not known
In years.

Sleep, I fear you,
For you brought me
Back to life,
Killed the ease
Of escapism,
And made me
Look you in the eye.

Sleep, I fear you,
For you paint
Me
Surrealist images,
Pluck beauty
Out of a tear,
Passion
From me, the dead,
And me, the departed alive.

Sleep, I fear you,
For every day and every night
I live in your shadow;
I walk in constant terror,
That happiness
Might really be mine.

Sleep, I fear you,
For dream
Is life's largest enemy,
Optimism,
Love
Even more so.

Sleep, I fear you,
For you made me
Believe again,
For my end is past,
My sunshine spent,
My destiny, rigid destiny,
Charted
By erring fools.

Sleep, I fear you,
For you can take me away,
For every mirage
You spend on me,
Two more lay astray.

Sleep, I fear you,
For you can
Lay me down,
Lay me down
Forever more,
Lay me down
In this perverse drama,
Of empty minds
And emptier ambitions.
Lay me down tonight,
Midnight,
As sanity breathes her last.

Sleep, I fear you,
Lay me down,
I fear not you again.