Heart to Heart

On a hot July night, starlight glinting the roof,
and with eyelids like tissue since sleep was aloof,
I went outside to bask in the summery balm
feeling like an insomniac, though I was calm.

I decided to walk in my state of awake
so I strolled through the yard and made straight for the lake.
(I have always enjoyed spending time by its shore;
  it was part of my boyhood to swim, fish and more.)

As I stood near the waves in the presence of lap,
I was startled when I heard the sound of wood snap.
Thus I gazed to the left and could see by moonlight
a big creature approaching of towering height.

There his movement was labored like pain had begun,
and he acted like posture was something to shun.
In my mind I said, Monster—what more could I think?
I at once thought my life was indeed on the brink.

I at once gathered all of my God-given sense
and made tracks through the field to the gate in my fence.
But the monster, like Big Foot, did follow me home
with a grunt and a growl and a little mouth foam.

When I got to my fence it was monster-like fate
that I snagged my jean cuff on the edge of the gate.
It was one of those moments I always had feared,
and real fear rose like steam as the big monster neared.

Yet as I struggled madly among Levis’ rip,
there came these gentle words from the big monster lip:
“You are having some trouble—it is clear to me,
  so allow me, good sir, to help you to get free.”

Like a dexterous monster who knew of his stuff,
he reached down and released my jeans’ offending cuff.
Though he towered above me in gargoyle might,
we discussed simple things as we welcomed dawn’s light.

Even foam from his mouth and grotesque countenance
failed to rattle my nerves as we walked from the fence
to the swing in my yard where we sat for awhile;
there he said he was, Darryl, and gave me a smile.

How life alters the path of your day-to-day walk;
“monster” Darryl and I had a heart-to-heart talk.
“I get by in plain sight,” Darryl said with a sigh;
I looked up and I noticed a tear in his eye.


40 Lines
Anapestic Tetrameter
Writer’s Cramp Co-Winner
7-10-20