Fear Itself

As children, we are taught to

never fear the monsters.

They are not real,

    they will not get us.

There is nothing hiding in your closet

    under your bed

        in the basement

            outside.

There is nothing.

It is all in our head,

    and there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

As we grow older,

We realize that the monsters

are not in our closet.

    They are not under our bed.

        They are not in the basement.

            They are not outside.

The true monsters lie within us;

beneath the masks we hide behind so effortlessly.

Beneath our skin,

    whatever color it may be,

        hides the scariest monster of all

            and there’s no way to hide from it.

So really, our parents were wrong all along.

    We have so much more to fear than fear itself.