I Am The Night Poem by Neil Graham Marsden

I arose from one of those half-sleeps
Where the clock hands move like quicksand.
Unable to stay awake yet so far beyond sleep
Yearning to be God knows where else
Yet knowing that anywhere else is fine.

So with glued up eyes and total lack of purpose
I untangled myself from life and strode outside.
A fear of the dark didn't hold much dissuasion
Neither would the cold night breeze
I had the calling, I simply had to go.

This place devoid of luminous city glow
Darkness beyond all measure of black.
My hurried footsteps slow to a victory stroll
As out of the bad-lights I have ventured,
Conquered devils that would have had me stay.

A crackling stick breaks to my left,
As three startled, rooting cotton-tails
Bounce quickly off into the deeper ink.
Had they been inside my territory or
Have I always been in ignorance, in theirs.

Three wet toes from two un-noticed puddles
Dampen my ardour not one jot.
I am simply out here for the ride
Bring on the troupe of dancing stars,
I have a scorching thirst to quench.

A few miles on from whence I came
I turned a corner in the night.
Around invisible angles there to meet,
A Roe deer blocked the path ahead.
Deafened by your rasping cough, you missed me there.

Captivated by your steaming flesh, I stand
Impounded on this moonshine stage I'll watch.
Busy spiders riding speculative strands of silk
As blind as I to where their journey's end will be
Their home but where the breeze dictates.

These journeys out are frequent now but more
To be at one with nature and the night
So many secrets lend themselves to me
A cornucopia of rich delight
As your treasure is revealed to blinded sight.

I know that from these random journeys,
To places I would never before have gone
Regardless of the climate one is leaving,
The cover and the Mother of darkness,
Awaits to replenish my soul.