At the Watering Hole
Together, we meet bogeymen without fear
It is always darkest before the dawn,
But some predators strike by day.
Each morn, when we to water are drawn
We pass them — lying — how they lie and wait!
Your words are a sword and shield for a herd
May a tribe of logophiles guard and gird
you. May scars heal. May your soul be stirred.
A response intended as a hat tip to Connie Song’s “I’ve Met the Bogeyman,” originally posted as a ‘comment’ to her piece. Her poem runs in a totally different direction, but on reading it, an image popped in my head of a herd of animals drinking together, cautious but unafraid, even as the mantras and slogans that supposedly protect us prove hollow.
Crocodiles and lions lurk about, yet we may drink even so — because words may permit us to guard one another from the threats of this world.
