Ken's Poetry

Night Watches

In the night, watches tick
like pile drivers,
piercing the skull with
water-drip beat;
the window square glows
with brittle starlight,
stains of moonshine.

Outside, the fox in the night
watches the veil of clouds,
the hedgehog scampers
from shadow within shadow
to shadow within shadow
searches wet hollows
for slugs and for snails.

Badgers frolicking on the damp earth
bask in the comforting dark;
the rabbit, the vole, the mole and the mouse
feast in lush forests
of fondling grass
whilst the radar-eyed owl
ice-still in the night …
watches.