Night Creature
A poem I finished back in June 2020 about a man dealing with a creature keeping him up at night that only seems to affect him. This was actually something I submitted to be published at the time but it unfortunately got rejected, still I think it's still good enough to share
"Night Creature"
By: A.X. Bueno
There is a night creature that likes lurking outside my door
It prefers to come after midnight and can howl up a storm
It disappears after about seven o'clock each day
Where it comes from and where it goes I definitely cannot say
It's shape is always shifting and it never comes too near
It likes to lurk by a tree outside the house that it knows I can see from here
It has taken the shape of everything from creeping chimera to shadowy reindeer
It feels like it's mocking me with it's ambivalent staring eyes
Despite my attempts to show them no one else can see it like it's using some kind of disguise
But I know it's not, it just lurks and stares and keeps me up with it's cries
I've searched before to try to find where it goes, the home in which it lies
But I've had no luck and it continues to be my nightly surprise
It's interesting that its' howls only seem to affect my ears
Only I seem to hear it and that sends a bit of fear
Is it truly there or I am imagining this creature that by morning disappears
The thing is I've seen it and it's footprints and heard it's piercing howls
I know it's out there and there is proof that I've had people see
Although they don't believe me about the creature and nothing but grief give me
Recently I've started to make peace with its presence and it being cowled from everyone but me
Lately there have started to be nights where I am able to sleep even while it is there
It's howling just stops and I can finally sleep without a care
I'm starting to have sleep filled nights even though I know it glares from somewhere
I'm beginning to understand its' patterns and maybe someday I'll find it's lair
But for now I'm learning to sleep despite the threat of it being out there