Into the darkness of the night he peers;
slowly takes one step, and then the next.
Trembling like a leaf, filled with his fears,
inch by silent inch he trudges on.
His breath is like a prisoner within,
he listens, darting glances to and fro.
Deafening, the silence draws him in,
only the pounding of his heart he hears.
Eyes see nothing, nothing heard,
where evil hides his mind cannot predict.
Carefully he utters not a single word,
for fear his presence to the enemy be told.
Then pouncing like a tiger at his prey,
he lunges t'ward his warm and welcome shelter,
where fears melt with the night at break of day,
to wait until the sun goes down once more.
(This poem depicts the overactive imagination of a child afraid of the dark)
june 2001