Aflutter

aflutter, thick footfalls

beat, thudding and spritely.

two by two, they come to wipe the sheen

from my brow and the prow of the ship

dips up and down in the

water of wet clinging bedsheets,

white and slick, opaque as the halo-rimmed moon that pulses overhead

and beckons them forth. the wave of hooves marches on, plodding.

the sheen, quick and slick.

the moon, ashimmer .

and aflicker they pour: one two, pulsing one two

and tandem steps apace in pulse beat down

and shake my bedframe

its hull adrift and afloat,

they thunder forward, stepping pricking the skin in

collusion of metronome, moon and beast running

pounding in surge

a crescendo of impetus

forward a wave of bodies crashes into my

hollowed frame and pulses over it and slick

are the sheets and

slick is the moon

and the ship lurches, prow dipping, hull reeling, keel arcs

asunder and the beat of the oncoming horde pounds relentless

thumping pulse on the

sheen of my brow.

hallowed in the moonlight, opaque and drowned

by the wave that they fled, they are gone.

and I lie, aflutter, under the

white, haloed pulse of the moon.