Friend of the Night

I am an enemy of the sun
Filling hours of light with prayer
In a house whose shades are drawn
At an hour when no one is there

I wander the streets in the night
Crossing a neighborhood lawn
I join a company of shadows
Like the delicate legs of a faun

All is revealed in the winter day
So they say second guessing the myth
They’ll finish their business quickly
And return to who they came with

I wake in a blanket of darkness
I meet with a ghost on the stair
Not a candle lit in sight
No you won’t find me anywhere

I can see you but you can’t see me
I hide in the bushes and peer out
The night makes you quiet
In the night you cannot shout

The day is my enemy
The devil hides under stones
In the night the thief is revealed
And God, he crushes his bones

I’m a friend of the night
Where everything is clear
Enemies stay enemies
And friends are held dear

Life moves forward during the day
Things grow old in the evening and die
In the night the world moves so young
The night, it doesn’t ask why

The serpent came in the evening
On the seventh day God rested
Adam knew ahead of time
Many nights he sat and reflected


Day you must look for a meal
Night you’ve surely been fed
You wake up to a cold plate
You wake in someone’s bed

Some men drink their nights away
Prayer I substitute for drink
And night I substitute for day
My day I pray and my night I think

Fell things can happen at night
Cuckolds, murders, bad dreams
But I’d rather hear unseen evil
Than say ‘it is good, so it seems.’

Some people work and get no sleep
And if only they would wait
And let the quiet voice speak
And let him in at the front gate

I’m an enemy of the sun
I hide my tears in the day
At night I am free to cry
There is no other way

The sun is for work and the night is for play
The head of the fool for the stone
But before the dawn will give us light
The fool has his place at the throne

Love is made in the darkness
Love is made while all else is still
Love is declared across the moonlit lakes
Love is lost as you mind your own will

Capture its hues in a portrait
Come see how the gardens have grown
See what can happen with no light?
See there’s nectar in the unknown

Night oh it is not proud
It has no one to impress
It has many secrets
It has a day to undress

Longing dies in the night
And returns to earth like dust
It taunts you like the knife of fate
As you return to those you can trust

I’m an enemy of the sun
The moon is watching me
Have you ever watched the highest moon
Reflecting off the sea?

I am a friend of the night
The broken fast leads me to feast
We pray our way into God’s arms
Of since The Fall we couldn’t be

I am a friend of the night
This dying wolf be my proof
Who when I try to lend a hand
He dies cold and aloof

I’m a friend of the night
I go home by candle in prayer
Where no one but Memory is allowed
At an hour when no one is there