The Nightmare

• Ashleigh North, Grade 5, Canterbury College
• Poetry
• 2010

3rd in the 'Something With Bite 2010' competition

An owl hoots in the darkened sky, above a shining moon.
Specks of light, which are the stars, illuminate the gloom.
Near a lily pond, a slimy fiend, emerges from a stream,
With dripping fangs, the beast rises up, I give a frightened scream.
It chases me to an old grey house, beside a billabong,
Where a lone piano plays a haunting funeral song.
I run out the door, to an eerie wood of massive canopy,
When, nearby, I hear a wolf’s cry and turn to run and flee.
I near a dark cave and turn to see, two bright yellow eyes peer out
Scared and afraid, I come face-to-face with a monster’s long green snout.
And as I scream my nightmare feeds on terror and on thrill.
My unending dream continues and the horror grows until…
I awake, panting, and walk, trembling, to the windowsill,
Where I look out upon the world asleep – quiet, hushed and still.