The Sudden Awful

They’re the kind of nightmares almost
Guaranteed to shock you awake—
The ones in which an instant shift,

A step off a cliff, a crashing
Car through the guardrails, your body
Hurtling into the air, aware

That it’s exactly now too late,
It’s already too late, it’s done,
You can’t not die in this event—

And you’re wide awake in the dark
With a galloping heart—those
Nightmares of the sudden awful,

They make you wonder about birth
And an infant’s shock—too late now.