Nightmare

Nightmare

“Behold – a horse of dark vapour and flames.”

The creature galloped through the city,

hooves clamping on damp cement,

beneath towering skyscrapers –

of dark metal and filthy glass.

I chased it to a brick wall,

covered in black paint.

The horse vanished.

I stood alone.

The wall

fell.

I usually never explain my poetry but in this case I feel I have too because it might be seen as overly simplistic or a simple prose portrayal of a seemingly random scene. The man hears a voice (l.1) directing his attention to a horse of smoke and fire – the folklorian embodiment of a nightmare. He chases it through a dystopic and darkened city (li. 3-5) reflecting the hostile environment of, and reaffirming, that the narrator is in fact trapped in a nightmare. When he comes to the wall the creature (the nightmare – l.6) vanishes and the narrator realises that dystopic view around him is real and even such a horrible thing as a nightmare functions as escapism in a darkened society from which he cannot escape. Thus he feels alone (l. 9) because even the worst kind of dream cannot be realised. The wall falls on top of the narrator in a symbol sense (because he can never escape or move beyond the wall. He will live within its borders until he dies – l. 10).  The hint of his death (which occurs after the end of the poem) is implied by the shape. It’s the blade of a dagger.

– F H Hakansson