Keep the lights on when you sleep and avoid submerging too deep into your dreams, for a string of shouting matches and glinting knives tumble down in the dark of the moon, rapping on the door like knuckles rolling over and over with a pause in between for bated breath, wanting to swing like a pendulum wherever it pleases. Keep the lights on, and you can at least unlock the door.
This poem is part of "Three Hallucinations of Love" written at the end of 2015 and set to music by Isaac Lovdahl for Tenor Voice and Piano. Check out the entire work at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAdFHWacqiM