Bewitching Hour

4 am                                               1/13/2016

You could weep

Or you could run

But if you live in a dream

You will never know for sure. 

How many times?

Did we run to the ledge

Closer and closer to the fire

Without getting burned. 

We have danced

In and out

And we have laughed all the way

Standing on the shoulders of others

Long gone away.

It was a comfort

And it was easy

To waste the day

And waste the night. 

Living in the glow

And indulged by the gift

The soft and the dumb

Asleep at the wheel. 

We listened to a lullaby

That was never true at all

Nothing but pawns

To use and to sell.     

Oblivious to the beasts

Chained in the deep

Kept at bay

By the vigilant

And the strong. 

But in the night

Someone let them go

Sneaking them in

Out of hatred

And envy.    

Shrouded by lies

They crouch in the shadows

Watching and waiting

For a leg or an arm. 

Many are still asleep

Their minds soft

And their necks supple

Sacrificed to terror

Unfathomable and cruel.    

Better to see it now

Than it is to deny

Caught in the night

And caught in a lie.