Dark Woods

She said she feared dark woods

like those nearby

yet knew not why;

for dark or light,

the substance is the same,

the beasts are tame;

there's naught to fear but fancy.

And yet the fear held tight

that only light was right,

that even night needed a moon.

She said the tales

that she had heard,

when but a babe,

of monsters lurking

in the dark,

had left a mark

upon her mind

too deep

for reason's rubbing

to erase.

So we let fancy have it's will,

skirted the wood,

stayed on the hill;

for it was May

and many a day

would pass before the fall.

Now when I dream

that scene returns;

and as I yearn to enter there,

her words I hear

of dark and light

and share her fear

of moonless nights

and shapeless beasts

that feast on minds

till bodies flee

from the nightmare woods

and leave me here

alone, alone

in fear.