Mary McCarthy 

Night Terrors

After Job’s Evil Dreams, an engraving by William Blake

More than the worst
of ordinary nightmares,
those common visions stitched
from rags of memory and fear,
the shrapnel of trauma,
the still live ordinance
from a forgotten war–
This is the King of Nightmare
proud and overwhelming
as Job’s bullying god,
holding you tight
in his coils, snaking
around every limb
while with the cold precision
of a raptor, true Nightmare,
demon god, risen from
the deepest pit
steals your breath
covers you
with his weight
presses down
until you lie paralyzed
and helpless
yet knowing all you need
is the smallest
movement
that even an impossible
finger’s twitch
will free you
unlock your breath and body
from his foul possession
and send him roaring back
into oblivion

Metropolitan Museum 1 -2-3-4-5-6

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