Counting Down the Days

June 17: A Midnight Watcher

(A/N: First stab at something more serious fantasy, rather than the random whimsey I've been throwing around. Let me know what you think!)

***

For most, the night is time for sleeping,

for shutting out the darkness creeping.

But stirring in the dusk forsaken,

only then do the watchers awaken.

When daytime revelers withdraw

to snugly rest in evening's maw,

we don our armor, draw it tight,

and begin our vigil for the night.

For we are the coven of the bowers,

the council of the witching hours:

The sentinels to keep at bay

the monsters hiding from the day.

Confined to night's primordial gloom,

these ancient beasts resent their tomb.

So under every midnight's cloak

they rage against their captive choke.

In shadows, silent war we wage

to keep the demons in their cage

so that you daytime dwellers see

another day to live carefree.

We battle fiends of times forgone

to preserve the ignorance of the dawn.

Unaware of your bloody crowns

you live your lives on battlegrounds.

For us, the ones born to the night,

our work is never done, not quite

completed, only paused and then

the day goes by and starts again.

But do not pity us, the ones

who protect your daughters and your sons.

We do not want your morning dew

nor dazzling green or brilliant blue.

For ours are paths of hardship won

without the light of any sun.

So take your days, they're yours to keep—

the nighttime is our own to reap.