“Green Sleep”

Green Sleep
by Imo N. Imeh, Age 15, 1995

It was the fifth year
of the first decade
when beelzebub
swiped an ax between my gods
on earth.

In the same decade.
whenever slumber prevailed,
I was plunged into The Forest.

The Forest
was a green pit
of foliage and mist:
there, I met the girl with manners,
but no one else.

Lost and afraid
we wandered,
hopelessly seeking a warm face,
a soothing embrace,
in that desolate place.

Our worst fears sauntered with us
the worst being that of separation:
of loneliness:
of Isolation

And all of the fears
were our midnight blanket
as we trembled in the dark
waiting

for our troubles to arise…