recurring nightmare (from journal)

_

I have been thinking a lot recently
about the way a nose crystallizes
after it bleeds:
	They are not gems but it feels like it.
An aftermath, I guess, of the 
	drip, drip, drip/
	pound, pound, pound—
I keep having this dream, 
where it is 1:57AM
and I wake in the night, and 
the closet door is open.
	My little brother, as
	he was at ten, stands
	in front of it, beaming,
	and I am filled with dread.
		In the most recent one, 
		I shook and begged
		him to stop.
			Rubies set his eyes,
			he screamed, and 
			I woke up running red.
I have been thinking a lot recently
about the way a nose crystallizes
after it bleeds:
	Awake, again and again,
	searching for eyes in the dark.