The strangest dream I ever had,
\nWas when I realized I was in one.
\nI was surrounded by demons on all sides,
\nClosing in, slowly but surely.
\nMaking me wish I could do more with this last breath.
\nWishing I had someone to tell that I loved them.
\nWishing I had time to eat one more mango.
\nOne more day getting in fights,
\nface ground against cinderblock.<\/p>\n
Wondering how I was looking at myself in the third person.
\nAnd that was my first clue.<\/p>\n
Wild hope sprung within me.
\nI might not get eaten by demons today.
\nI might get to go back to my life in Miami,
\nMy stab wound was healed,
\nAnd I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be going into 5th grade soon.
\nThings were looking up,
\nBut the demons were ever closer.<\/p>\n
I told my dream self,
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you gasp, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll escape.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI gasped. I escaped.<\/p>\n
I looked around a familiar bedroom, heart still pounding.
\nI realized life on this side of the dream wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much better.<\/p>\n
When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the parent of a chronically bullied child,
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to tell the child the bullies are just jealous.
\nI was the smallest child in my class by far,
\nWorking three years ahead, learning four languages.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have traded my brains for any other body in a heartbeat.
\nPerpetuating a vicious cycle of antisocial behavior.
\nRealized life had already peaked at nine years old.
\nTold my mom I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d thought about drowning myself.<\/p>\n
I often wondered what would have happened,
\nIf the demons had caught me, killed me in my dreams.
\nI think I would\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lost my mind that night.
\nI think I would\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve woken up half-dead.
\nUnable to defend myself even in the confines
\nOf my own head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The strangest dream I ever had, Was when I realized I was in one. I was surrounded by demons on all sides, Closing in, slowly but surely. Making me wish I could do more with this last breath. Wishing I had someone to tell that I loved them. Wishing I had time to eat one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-30-in-30-poetry-edition","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1RwV4-6y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407,"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danieltharp.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}