Bladed Smiles

Knives peering from beneath bushes,
Glint in the glare of daggers.
Absence of lips reveal a bladed smile,
Silver sheen of claws pull back a branch
To reveal… a lone traveler's back.
No longer confident or oblivious,
Mental energy converts into images,
Flurry of delirium,
Eclectic collection of fearful suggestion,
Post-apocalyptic landscape populated with half-seen stalkers
Observing the walker.

Clutch keys for comfort.

Peer round corner, shadows become images from mind.
Barrier blurs, the darkness of closed eyes is the same as the shade,
Undulating ebony produces writhing visages
Of imagined criminals with hate-filled hearts.
Bubbling froth of fears,
But the bubbles are faces.

Realisation.
The anxious images use imagination,
So turn the tide by pointing their weapon against them.

The tides turn with defences constructed from symbols of power,
Draconic protectors fly in from the clouds,
Bringing righteous conflagration to the scene.
Flames lick the streets and brush orange on black canvas,
Spillage illuminating fears to nil,
Throw sulphuric burn to the air,
No oxygen.

Ferocious battle raging,
Scores of defeated icons of fear lay blazing,
Trail of dead breadcrumbs leading home,
But still our traveler is not alone.

Battered feet patter on pavement like his heart beat,
Flurry of knocking from the furious fist
Like a desperate door knocker. Mirrored in the final destination,
Open to shut in the faces of those fears.
They can't follow where light shines.
Traveler’s home.