Under the Covers

As children, we knew fear.
Every bump in the night,
Every creak of the floorboards --
A monster, coming to get us.

We'd dive under the covers,
Hiding in the darkness within
For fear of the darkness without.
We'd hide,
Emerging only to ask,
'Daddy, is the monster gone?'
Or 'Mommy, is it safe?'
And that worked;
Daddy scared off the monster,
And after switching off the lights,
Mommy said it was safe.

Grown, we still know fear.
Every complication of our lives,
Every detail of our dramas --
A monster, coming just as surely
As it did in our childhoods.

We still dive under the covers,
Still hide in the darkness within
For fear of the darkness without.
We still hide --
But somewhere,
Between childhood and adulthood,
We lost something.
We now emerge only to ask,
'Hey, do we have more booze?'
Or 'Pass me another joint.'
And that works;
Our addictions silence the monster,
Blur the line between safety and danger,
Until we can't remember why we were afraid.

But the monster stays;
The scary stuff persists --
The complications lurk,
And the dramas bide time,
Waiting until,
Inevitably,
We poke our heads out
From under the covers.

At that moment,
Our fears resurface,
And we dive under once more,
Deeper, deeper,
Drowning ourselves in blissful darkness;
Safety in ignorance --
'If I can't see it, it can't see me.'
Until, at last,
Our fears are forgotten once more,
And we poke our heads out.
'Is the monster gone?'
'Is it safe?'

And on and on the cycle goes,
Spiraling deeper,
Deeper, deeper,
Into the darkness under the covers.