Mad Mind Poem by Richard Hovelsrud

I am seeing things that are not there; I hear my name whispered softly in the night air,
I feel a presence in this house, it follows me everywhere,
I hear strange noises in the attic, do I dare?

I long for faith at my side, but given only fear,
Hunted by an invisible beast, who hides with an evil glint in his red eyes,
I flee from the attic and run to the stairs, but I hear sinister laughing come from down there.

Why is the night so dark and the air so cold?
How I wish the lights would turn back on.

I feel the monster everywhere,
As if I am trapped in a treacherous house of mirrors,
But when I dare to stare, I find only me standing there.

Where did this darkness come from?
My only hope is to breathe this malignant air.

Sprinting from my house, I hide in the woods
But I can feel the breathing of creature, and smell fire everywhere.

Onto a lonely old road I run, but my predator is waiting for me there.
Up ahead is an abandoned farm house, that was destroyed long ago by the fire in this air.
Across the open field, salvation awaits there,
A empty church with open doors, and a powerful cross that hangs there.

Now I see it is the Devil trying to beat me there,
The perverted Angel spreads its rotting wings and ascends into the night air,
It laughs, it roars, it screams, then it calls my name and say’s
“I am the one who has always been there.”

Into the church I run, surely
God will protect me there.
But just outside these holy gates,
Hell itself awaits there.

Pounding, pounding at the gates I know he wants in here,
I hide in the chapel, but through an open window,
He can see me there.

The wind brings a chill, and then evil freezes the air,
I rush to close the window, but a strange demon beats me there,
With all my face I stare it in the face, and shout
“You are not welcome here.”

Then the drumbeats begin,
you can hear them everywhere.
The walls begin to burn, and the laughter once again
engulfs the night air.

I now know my fate, and the ending to this story draws near,
I now do the only thing left to do.

I clutch the sword, and raise the shield,
and storm out into the open night air.

But there is only me standing there.