Sometimes as you drift off
you feel your chest tighten;
your ears ring
and your lungs won’t fill,
like you’ve been shut
in a cold, dark vault,
or you are shackled
and shivering
in a cell somewhere
in Kashmir or Karnataka—
maybe they’ll beat you
if you ask to see the sky
or just because it is time
for the beating.
Lock your doors,
turn off the lights,
do not venture out
after dark.