Engraved,
in mind
the dire dreams
of dirge and dread,
awake
at three AM
slick with sweat
with bedsheets coiled
around my legs
I realize, alas,
that nightmares
really sugarcoat reality
where crooning drones
await
to crack my ribcage
and rip my heart away.
Kim hosts dVerse Quadrille were the word today is engrave.
March, 24 2025
Björn Rudbergs writings 
I like the contrast of ‘sugarcoating’ and ‘engraved’, Björn, and the very effective alliterative phrase ‘dire dreams of dirge and dread’, and what a dramatic ending!
It wrote itself… we live in a dark world.
oh a scary nightmare, no fun
Happy you dropped by my blog
much♡love
I find it a bit fun to write about
Dang, Bjorn, if your usual nightmares are sugarcoated, reality is what level of hel (e.g. walking in the icy cold with wet feet) that you exist in? Fear is a great vampire isn’t it.
It is a dark world we live in
Dreaded drones! Terrifying war machines. In normal use people don’t have manners either. Hate them.
And the can be even worse- like insects
I realize, alas,
that nightmares
really sugarcoat reality
Was going to swear…but yes, bang! you just delivered your darkest words yet..or ever…expect to see those wors quoted somewhere one day…good use of the drone…really though, those words will stick….no pun wanted…
Indeed… and even though I am not at a place of war, I can see it coming here as well….
Think after the cable cutting by Russia, and actually of war, that Sweden is in the front lines though. It can be seen that the Russians are building a lot of military infrastructure in Leningrad Oblast, plus huge air force base in Murmansk. I know one scenario is they gain a hold up in Finnmark/Northern Sweden/Finland. Lots of Russians bought properties in northern Norway. A LOT.. Can:t help thinking this would be a nightmare for NATO…or what is left of it with Trump…
“the dire dreams
of dirge and dread”
… oh hey, just not fair to live it in real life and then to have to dream about it too. make it stop!
Seems all too true lately.
We Do live in a dark world, eh? I keep telling myself there’s an out, but….
nice write am I strange to enjoy these darker poems?
Well Bjorn, after that ending I’m not sleeping well tonight!
I love “dire dreams of dirge and dread”.
I like the contrast of sweetness and darkness you described in this poem.
Nightmares like this do engrave themselves in our minds! Well done.
Those dreams at 3:00 am can be dark and unsettling.
the dire dreams
of dirge and dread,
I have had dreams like those….and I try to forget them but, sometimes they are the ones that linger and haunt
the coiled bedsheets are such a visual clue to the nightmare – a very dark use of engrave but then the 2nd syllable does call it up
Oh my! A nightmarescape indeed.
Psst, I think you meant “where”, not “were”, but I may be mistaken.
Oh thanks… second language is a bad excuse.
Nightmares sugar coating reality … which for me usually has a way of seeping through …. great quadrille, Bjorn.
This is enough to give me nightmares, Bjorn! ;O
Creepy. Bravo!!
I expected dark, but this really was. Our world right now really is a nightmare though.
Nasty nightmare!
Reminded me of those hard sugar/egg white easter eggs of old, they were sugar coated and you could engrave them 🙂 what a horror dream. Noting too, the use of drone in its original sense.
When reality is a nightmare … that’s true horror. And you can’t “sugarcoat” it.