N is for Night

Fun fact: This quote from my Mom is about me.

I did have one night owl child who still does better at night than in the morning. I tried everything - she just couldn't get to sleep. I eventually gave up and allowed her to stay awake and play quietly (Fisher Price Little People was generally her game of choice )- rule was she had to play very quietly so as not to disturb the rest of the family who actually wanted to sleep...when she got tired she climbed into bed on her own. When she started going to public school and couldn't sleep in, things had to change, but she was a little more willing to understand and cooperate by then.

I can’t stay up as late as I used to, but I am still a night owl. Mornings make me sluggish. I tend to get a lot of ideas in bed trying to sleep, when my creative mind refuses to shut off.

Two very different night poems for you today. These were written earlier this month.

This first poem was written from NaPoWriMo’s prompt to write a rhyming charm poem.

Charm of Night

I ask for sweet dreams
with the birth of this charm
flower of buckwheat
protects me from harm

feather of owl
to watch as I sleep
sprinkled with moondust
to make my dreams deep

amethyst stone
will calm the mind
then strips of willow
will this charm bind.

This second poem was for day 13’s prompt on Poetic Asides. The prompt was to write an animal poem, and as a bonus challenge to make it a sestina. I wrote about a creature of the night with an animalistic nature.

The Reign of the Night

Brothers walking in the rain,
our destination nowhere;
afraid to prove
what we already knew --
that our string of lies
wouldn't get us through the night.

We find a barn late in the night,
shelter from the soaking rain…
but danger in the shadow lies,
tooth and claw tear us where
lifeblood flows, I know
this the end will prove .

We die and rise the same, and prove
ourselves creatures of the night--
a taste for blood I hadn't known,
the cravings I try to rein;
my brother finds a dame from somewhere,
paints her as a whore, but I sense lies.

I sense her heartbeat where she lies;
I turn away, my honor to prove
and make one little room, an everywhere
within to contain night;
I will not let it reign,
I must keep saying no.

My brother insists, he knows
resisting is a lie,
with our new life we can reign,
to our debtors prove
we will rule the night;
we can go anywhere.

It is a strange world where
my brother is the one to know ,
the one to lead the night;
I will see where his path lies,
let him be the one to prove
that he can take the reins.

I fall into where the darkness lies,
abandon humanity I know would not approve,
surrender myself to night's reign.