Nocturne Poem by Jan Sand

When Earth dons
Night's black helmet
With the heavy sunball
Swinging from the chinstrap
In pursuit of tomorrows
Expectations, hopes and deaths,
Half the world lies paralyzed in dreams.
Silver moonshafts fall
Through sieves of black leaves
Transforming all familiar things
To shapeless threats that clothe themselves
In myths; specters, bloodsucking ghouls,
Dark predators of tooth and claw,
Icy souls yearning for life's heat.
Then emerge the tiny furry beasts of timidity,
Sharp spears of fear
To garner crumbs of sustenance
In midnight mini-mayhem.
Round yellow eyes and green lumenescences
Comet through the black.
Hooked claws on whooshing wings
Zero in on buzzing trails.
Furious, the tumbles of pursuer and pursued
>Til morning's thumb tilts back
Night's helmet to the raucous cries
Of birds in symphony,
Lullaby to things of night.