Under the Bed

Under the Bed


Remember the nightmares
you had as a child?
Things that went bump
in the night?
Feet tucked into the covers,
keeping you safe--
Night-light glowing,
shadows growing:
don't look under the bed!
It can't get you as long
as the covers are
tucked in tight.

         The fear of night scares
always kept me awake.
So I never looked under the bed;
too afraid of what I might find
lurking there, beneath.


I'm an adult now, and
I know what's right.
I know those things are not real.
Those things no longer give me a fright.

But I also know
that as long as I keep
my feet
         under the covers,
that thing can't come out
from under the bed
and grab me
when there's no light.
As long as the blankets
hide my legs,
I'll be safe...
until tomorrow night.

***

Starr Rathburn
June 2, 2001
One of the "My Midnight Heart" 

Thanks, GabriellaR45 for the blue awardicon!

The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle.
- Stephen King

***

I've received some fabulous comments on this work over the years, and so I want to share them with other readers to enjoy. I've transferred all the comments to a page of its own. A link follows. Thank you, everyone, for your support. I'm really not a poet, so your kind words mean a lot to me.

Excerpts from "Comments for 'Under the Bed'" :

* This is a lovely poem that really captures what it means to be afraid of what we don't know. The classic problem, we all know that there are things lurking in the dark that can get us, we just don't like admitting to them.

*I won't let my legs hang over the edge, either. When I was a kid, I'd flip off the light switch and try to make it onto my bed before the light was off.
Nowadays, the light switch is too far away from the bed, so in instances where I'm still scared, I'll just leave the light on!

* Like the other members who commented on this piece, this also made me remember my terrors as a child. This is one of those poems that just makes you want to look back and remember those times when you were scared to dangle your feet over the side of the bed.

*I once hung my foot off the bed just to see if anything would get me. The cat walked by and brushed against it and I slept in the middle of the bed from then on.

*I have felt these fears and I know all too well where you are coming from. To this day I don't like sleeping with my feet out from under the covers or with my arm hanging off the bed. A habit born from childhood fears. You have done an excellent job putting those claustraphobic feelings into words.

* What else can I say that these many, many, many comments haven't already? Add me to the "adult list" of frightened individuals who would never dare to let a body part dangle, because I know that even if it's not there, it still can get you!

* Hey, I'm old enough to be considered an adult but I would not want to look under my bed.

* You've brought back all my terrors.

* I still take one rather large step and never let my feet hang out over the side. After all - you just never know.

Read more comments at
"Comments for 'Under the Bed'"  E: It must be a collective-consciousness kind of thing