Something heavy

Settles on my bed

The blanket sinks

I tilt my head

Two blank eyes

Glazed and dead

No color, no hue

Sour white instead.

A voice of gravel

Skin made of boils

Yellowed teeth snap

Cloth caked with soil

Hair made of strings

Wet with putrid oil

Fingers are gnarled,

Tense and coiled.

An ice-cold grip

‘Round my stiff limbs

My demon screeches

My demon grins

I try to move

Long nails like pins

Sleep, he demands,

Confess your sins.

I want to scream

The temperature drops

Bones freeze, limbs lock

Sleep waits, sleep knocks

My demon is winning

Screams from the rooftop

Until, at last,

The chill finally stops.