While Mommy and Daddy Were Sleeping

15th of March, 2013

Today I caught a cold

 after bathing in the river

  I was a little lost, as Mother

   failed to scold

    me as I came in through the door,

 soaked, and Father wasn't sleeping

  in his favorite recliner chair

   as I'd left him, anymore.

It was late, I realized,

 as the moon loomed in the window

  I never noticed how it had been

   distorted in size

    like a great, big eye

 so I thought my parents

  were sleeping in their bed

   and let them lie.

I was mercifully quiet as I took off

 my sopping wet clothes

  I left them in the sink

   along with the heavy feeling I shook off...

    ...or tried to. I tried

 as I saw in the mirror the darkness

  on my skin that might have been red

   but it was only mud. With relief, I sighed.

My weariness got the better of me,

 so I stumbled off to bed

  with the mud still on my skin

   that might have been red.

    I ignored the sinking feeling with my head

 thought still my heart was in my throat

  as a distant voice there whispered,

   "You should be dead."