The Eye of the Nightmare

In the eye of the nightmare,
the sky was a carpet of stars.
I marathoned by the Great Bear,
lay down for a rest beside Mars,

and waited for rain and wind
to scatter me awake.
My eyes opened; my arms felt pinned;
my calves and hamstrings ached.

The storm picked up outside,
in a dawn of cloudy light.

Andrew Shields lives in Basel, Switzerland. His book Thomas Hardy Listens to Louis Armstrong was published by Eyewear in June, 2015.