The child frets
Tossing and turning
Moaning and thrashing
Caught up in the nightmare
Yet the Mother smiles.
Continuing her cooed litany
“You are safe, little one
You are safe, my darling,
You can wake up now,
Sweetheart, you can wake up.”
The Mother smiles because she knows
The end is closer than the start
The nightmare is nearly finished.

Earlier, when he
Suffered in silence
Dying a thousand painful times
Killing a thousand others
In a torturous drama
In which he played
All the roles at once,
That was worse, perhaps.
Now, even though
He cries out
Because of the sweet agony
Of hearing the Mother”s Voice,
But not always,
Of feeling the Fathers Hand,
But not reliably,
It is an agony, but
More unbearable
Than dreaming of murder
And revenge
When you are so close
To waking
Back
Up.

(c) Sare Liz Anuszkiewicz, 2017