AN: This is a poem I wrote for school and ended up liking more than I thought I would. Any constructive criticism is welcomed--please don't comment just to insult me--and if you have anything else to say, let me know!

December 21, 1609

They are coming to-night, when the mist sinks
to brush the ankles of the little ones
who deny their fear, while I

like them

insist on denying my own.
They will arrive to-night, when the naïve are
slumbered—I know without doubt;

I saw it

hours like days ago, this solstice morn’.
But when they storm through the gates, when they break down
my door, I will have fled, have shadowed into

the night

that bids all who enter, “Farewell,” and beckons
the sun to fall. And my candle now falters,
a fading light in the window, trying

in vain

to crack the glistening mist. The eve is upon
us and I know they have come. The
candle departs, and with it

I must

too. There shall be no trace of my presence
for I have planned too long for
to-night—apprehension does

not exist

in the mind of one such as me,
one who can lose nothing more save
for the desperate satisfaction of

the chase,

the hunt. The tables have turned this time,
though, I realize. I am the one
that is sought, an exciting disruption in

the flow of time,

my savior. But now, when the course
has changed, so too must I. To-night
has come, the hour is

upon me

and the mist has ensnared the ankles
of all the young ones, while I, I sit
paralyzed as they arrive—