Catching a Dream Wraith

They enter uninvited,
The Wraiths of slumber do.
Like thieves who raise a window
and lift their bodies thru.
Who peel back an eyelid...
These oily specters ride
steeds of cosmic plasm
and worm their way inside.

As you toss and turn about
Their stance is deathly still,
Waiting for a perfect chance
to exercise their will.
Then tiptoe 'round like phantoms
in stillest time of night,
searching for the coffer
of everlasting light.

Back behind your forehead,
A motion picture screen
shines with luminescence
an effervescent green.
He's drawn by the flicker
a deep compelling urge
To feel the thrill of living
and let the glory surge.

I see him as he struts and frets
his hour upon the screen;
pretending life that never was
and things that never been.
Reading idiotic scripts,
lines that never spake,
until the dawn begins to yawn
and bids his host awake.

The rooster crows a shiver.
Awareness breaths a sigh
Reluctantly the wraith salutes
and takes his leave goodby.
But just before he slips away
A pencil reaches out
and pins him to a paper
With naught to do about.
And doth he squirm and wiggle,
doth he scream with rage,
His captor traps the memory
In runes upon a page.

Doomed to languish in a space
Dimensioned all askew
With yawning recollections
fading like the dew
The master writs, the shackles dry
the prison walls are wrought
And deaf to pine and fuming
His struggle is for naught.

So there you have it children,
How to tie a noose
Around The dreaded Dream Wraith
that won't a let him loose.
Just keep a pencil handy
Near your bed at night.
And 'fore he flees like vapor
Scribe his fetters tight.

Now you might ask
Well what the heck
When it's done so what?
And that's a magic of itself,
that sometimes runs amok.
So I won't be sharing it
Unless you swear on high
You'll use it for the greater good
Don't ask or even try