Sometimes

• Eileen Wu, Grade 11, Fort Street High School -
• Poetry
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

Sometimes in the middle of the night,
I’ll wake up, cold and in fright.
The monsters in my head scream and growl,
the others in the shadows slither and howl.
Sometimes I wake up with ringing in my ears,
And then I realise it was me that I hear.
Screeching and yelling for them to go away,
hands underneath the bed grasping, wanting to play.
Mummy said there was no such thing in my room,
But I swore sometimes I can feel it following me in classrooms too.
As I grew older, the monsters went to hide.
But sometimes they pop up wailing in my mind.
Monsters like fear and anxiety and doubt,
I locked them away, their cries dying out.
Sometimes their words hurt my head,
But no longer am I afraid of sleeping in bed.