The nightmare, the "bad dream," is the distant scream of the deepest, most hidden recesses of the human psyche. It expresses not only our worst fears, but the primordial fears of humanity. And, as we all found out the hard way, those fears go well beyond what we know to be real. Our moment of terror may involve a serial killer or a plague of spiders, but it is just as likely to feature a monster under the bed or ethereal spirits rising from the grave.

Nightmares hit us like a sledgehammer and quickly diminish, but never go away completely. They linger forever, reverberating in our minds, echoing our vulnerabilities, humbling us with the realization that we are not completely in charge, that there are things in this life that we can neither conquer nor control. The nightmare tells us that our happy, serene lives can be ripped away at any moment. It taunts us with the suggestion that the world is not after all an inherently benign place, that evil just might triumph in the end.

Sept 01, 2003

HOME / PICTURES / POEMS / FAIR USE / FUNNY / NIGHTMARES

SIGN IN: