Nightmares is a poem written by Andrew Durbin and shared with The Ugly Writers under the theme Terrible Ideas for the month of July.

Nightmares

I have stood at the doorway of dreaming.

I have ventured where no one would dare,

To a place where no sunlight is gleaming,

And where devils carouse in the air.

Where I found myself endlessly screaming,

As I looked in on my own despair.

I have crept through the forests of yearning,

Where the creatures of night make their home,

With the smells of the dead that are churning

And decaying within the dark loam.

And my mind is forever returning

To that place where one never should roam.

I have been where the secrets are hidden.

I have climbed the great mountains of rage.

I have gone where I have been forbidden.

I have seen what is kept in the cage.

And the winds of the night that are ridden

By the things that are old without age.

Far beyond a mere man’s understanding,

I have been to all places of dread.

The great weight on my mind is demanding,

And my sanity hangs by a thread.

But my nightmares are ever-expanding,

And it seems they are going to spread.