Time to lighten the mood a bit…
I didn’t know what woke me. I don’t normally wake up in the night enough to open my eyes, nor to even register that I’m awake. Then I heard it… It occurred to me that the sound outside my window had probably happened again a moment before and had been what pulled me out of sleep. I promptly sat up to investigate. An owl was perched on a branch right outside my window. While owls were somewhat common in that area, they do not frequently come near houses, so I watched him in awe, visually absorbing his regal magnificence. Through the backdrop of trees behind him, I could see the moon, adding a mystic touch to the scene as a brightly glowing sliver. At that moment, a poem was born and I could not sleep again until it had been written down. “Moon” was the first place winner in the poetry contest my senior year of high school. It has maintained its place at the top of my list of favorites all these years later.
Moon
A gleaming smile
In the sky
That stretches shadow’s wings,
The Cheshire grin
With starry eyes
And the blanket of night they bring…
The owls that sing
Their haunting song
In the abode of sleeping night,
Comes the glowing
Fantastic moon
To streak the dark with light.
And yet the night
Comes creeping on
With sunset padded paws,
And as the Sun
Slips ‘round the world
To her brother Moon she calls…
“Come and watch
my sleeping world
As through the night she dreams,
Protect her with
Your shadow wings
And with your gentle beams.”
So he came
And took his post
Up in the vast night skies,
To keep watch
O’er his newfound charge
With a smile and sparkling eyes…