It Comes By Night.

 Every night, for so many nights now,

 I have kept a desperate vigil,

intent on catching it,

 on witnessing that very instant

when, forsaking all cover,

and silently, so very silently,

 it advances upon me.

And every morning it's the same,

the same dire disappointment on waking,

to find that yet again it has beaten me,

has, in its ancient cunning,

sensed a moment's loss of alertness

and, sailing forth, overwhelmed me.

How I curse the light that finds me so,

mind a vacant daze, body further drained,

 and yet one more full day to be endured

before even the chance comes round again.

 If only, perhaps just for some seconds,

I could behold it, truly transfix it,

consume it with my gaze and, savouring,

say: 'Aha! Yes! Got you! Got you!'

Then I could close my eyes and not care.