POETIC ASIDES APRIL 2010 CHALLENGE CONTINUES

and another based on deGoya's "Flight of Witches"

Witches in the Air

They came down out of the hills
And they seized upon his body
Snatched him off the donkey
As he rode triumphant into the city ...

I tried to fall awake and I could not;
In my nightmare they stripped
Him naked, flung him as a child
Beneath his sheet, began to feed

And wicked, they rose as if to heaven
But a far darker place was their
Intent; dark cherubim forever to be
Confused with witches in the annals

Worst of all, in my dream within
My haunted dream, I see that I have
Painted into the scene the coward
I imagined myself to be that day

For why was I not reaching up to
Help him, to try and bring him back
To earth, to save his life—no, see me?
I’m covered, running, ever fearful ...