Lady Lampshade appears as I open my eyes, though slow.
Who is she? I do not know.
Only a vague memory as hazy as a misty day remains.
A child… lost, hers perhaps? but the brain begins to strain.
She stares. Does she approach? No— Only stands and stares,
Her eyes not visible beneath the lampshade she wears,
But the sensation, that eerie sensation of being her full focus…
Unable to move, I feel hopeless.
From where did she come?
Her pale visage makes me numb,
I am frozen in my terror
By the glare of the lampshade wearer.
How did she appear here?
The door is locked, not a sound did I hear,
Not even a rustle of her white dress.
A nightdress?…but no, that doesn’t make sense.
At last! A sound! But from where?
Was it me or someone out there?
But the question no longer matters,
One blink and I awaken, though I still feel her gaze like daggers.
Though over, the experience clings to my skin
Because the Lampshade lady has taught sleep to elude me in that thin twin.
Arrow Rock Literary Journal 