Stealing a Dream

For the past three nights,
my mother has forgotten,
when she tucked me in, to say
"Sweet Dreams..."
And so I'm left with nightmares and
it makes me want to scream.
So I find some dreams,
that were lost by other children,
who had them but lost them at morning's light.
So here I had fantastic dreams,
all through BOTH day and night.
How was I supposed to know,
that taking lost dreams was a felony,
in the wonderful land of dreams?
I guess I was just supposed to know;
at least that's what it seems...
So this went on for quite a while,
when still I did not know my crime.
But then one day when I caught another dream,
I was in for a surprise.
Two dream police on cotton candy clouds
came to take me to the judge.
My charge was stealing dreams kids had,
when, really, they were just lost.
So when the judge said,
"What have you to say,
to prove your innocence?"
I said,
"I saved those dreams from grief,
by putting them in MY head.
You see, I didn't take those dreams;
they wandered off themselves,
and so the dreams the kids had those nights,
the ones full of fairies and elves,
they had no owner,
they had been had,
and therefore they were rightfully MINE,
Now don't you see that I am right,
and YOU are truthfully WRONG."
"ENOUGH!" came the shout of that dream judge,
with a BANG! of his big gavel,
"Your words scream nothing but
NIGHTMARES and EVIL.
So if you "found" these dreams,
why didn't you also save the nightmares?
AH HA!!! I've CAUGHT you! What have you to say NOW?"
In response, I simply said,
"What I tell you is the truth:
Nightmares do not wander off.
They're much too content
with scaring kids,
to even THINK of goofing off,
like those silly dreams did."
That judge's face did turn beet red,
and then another BANG!
He said, "That's ALL you'll have to say;
you're going to dream JAIL today."
And so he sentenced me on charges of stealing a dream,
saying, "I charge you with an ABUNDANCE of nightmares,
so you will learn to NEVER steal dreams again...
This is your punishment for this awful sin."
The thing is, I LIED, but I wasn't about to tell that to the judge...
NIGHTMARES are more easily chased off than DREAMS
ANYDAY!!
So with content, I accepted my "doom" and left the room of court,
and tiredly woke up to find that I had dreamed,
and now I would chase away nightmares forevermore.
THIS was the FIRST ONE,
to be chased away for some dumb child as I to find.