Horror Poem - Neanderthal Nightmare

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@Jessicalynnt has set a special Halloween challenge for the poets among us this week, through the assistance of @JolietJake - thank you to both of you. The five key words to inspire us are ‘dread, shrivel, banish, cackle, grave’. Here is how I used them. Neanderthal Nightmare Newly discovered fires die down Leaving a sense of a dark and spacious heartbeat echoing grave I could dare to admit my dread and move to another cave But the others will consider me craven They might banish me if I can’t make my demons vanish There can be no safe haven For a grown-up coward who cries in the night Thinking the painted walls are alive And the slowly dripping stalactite Above will bite through me in my sleep So my bones will end up added to the heap Of sabre-tooths I helped to snare When I was brave, In the bright light of day. My spear, arm’s reach away Cannot fight the nightmare. My nerves shrivel. I tell myself it’s all imagination and drivel But something raises my hackles I see the eyes of a pair of jackals Silent, unbetrayed by the usual cackles. I laugh for them, as I reach for my spear The others awaken where the sheer Racket I make tears through the night. I feared no ghost and this I can fight. No coward after all – the first wild beast takes its fall The others flee, in terror, but they do not fear me. I turn to see the rest of the tribe are dead One walks despite the absence of his head Craven as it makes me, I release my scream But nothing saves me from what is not a dream The cave mouth crumbles – the limestone tumbles Stalactites fall, trapping us all forever Protecting the oh so clever Taller tribes who avoided these caves Our sudden downfall saves Them so I hope they treat their world well While we perish in this undeserved infernal Hell. Now the bats fly and the jackals laugh at last As our hope, our time is passed I wonder what we might have done in distant years My people close in. I embrace our fate, and shed no more tears. Arthur Chappell