What am I afraid of?

The vibrant darkness

That creeps and floats

Somewhere between sleeping

And waking,

But not quite a dream.

The twinge in my stomach

Before an audition

That some people call

“butterflies” but really feels more like

Shattered glass and lightning.

When something happens

That I can’t explain.

The frightening familiarity of

Déjà vu.

The vastness of space

The prospect of being completely

alone

in the Universe.

The prospect of not being alone.

The feeling of being watched.

The feeling that I’ve failed before I even try.

The fact that some of the stars

We think we see are dead,

Exploded into super nova oblivion,

And their light is still reaching us.

What am I afraid of?

I don’t know of anything about this list that should scare me.

And maybe that’s what scares me.