Baku

Before you go to bed at night

say your prayers; say them right

then nestle in, under covers spell

and ever, always sleep; sleep well

But if a problem should occur

if you hear an angered word

or see a face with fangs in blood

just remember, this is but a dream

that’s gone wrong… that it is something

so easily solved

Remember, there are no such things as ghosts

Remember, there are no such things as monsters

Thoughts spoken to ease the child’s mind

Thoughts, naively conceived

Simply look above you there

and choose to see Baku

then permit him to devour

your every nightmare clean

Then reawake

in a refreshed state

by dreaming the sweetest dreams

You’ve ever seen

The Baku is a mythical creature that comes from the lore of Japan.  There are many different descriptions of what a Baku looks like.  The more modern description shows him to look like a giant tapir, having the body of a horse, the head of a lion and the legs and paws of a tiger.

They are the type of creature that lives mutually with humans.  Whenever a person awakes, after suffering a nightmare or bad dream, it is told that if that person calls on Baku, he will.  He’ll enter the dreamers mind and eat all the fragments of the nightmare up.  The human will then awake feeling refreshed and  it is told they will experience a very peaceful day.

Hardwired in Groundwater

Curtailing the passionate reprieve
is often an impossible task

Hardwired in groundwater
are the under-surface collisions

of a hero's complexity and
the flight to fight reflexive design

Timpani
Snare
De-bassed ring around

Colored lenses
posturing atop
the bartering core

One half of the circumference
lauds you for your nurture

The other condemns you
for your nature

The savior complex
the volleys and the serves

Some victims embrace
your tender gaze

Some wither worthless
by the need for intervention

"the nerve," they say

Yet still

Curtailing the passionate reprieve
is often my abomination toward
submission