The Forbidden Hedgerow 

Fighting those demons in the middle of the night

Not healthy to ignore those snake bites

When the lights are low and out of sight

Who knows what nocturnal entity you might invite?

Like falling into a darkened tunnel

Dragged down into the cloud of the funnel

Up against the ropes being pummeled

At this dark hour everything is muzzled,

An empty bed and a fog of gloom

That’s what inhabits this dreary room

No glossy delusions to presume

Nothing but painful recollections to consume,

Please give me insight into your saving grace

There’s a momentary pause in the criminal case

Phantoms drift in as a change of pace

In the absence of tenderness and lace,

The changing of the seasons for infinity

The court won’t listen to an innocent man’s plea

The souls of men who end up lost at sea

Hopelessness grinning back at me,

The mystery ship on the horizon steaming by

As survivors bob up and down on the sea and cry

No one hears a lonely man’s sigh

No one will notice until their freedom dies,

An ancient man gazes up at the stars eons ago

In fear of the predators who move in so slow

The darkness will always take the heaviest toll

As I toss and turn in this forbidden hedgerow.