The Watcher

Lightning flashes,
Filling the sky
with nature’s strobe lights
Transforming fluid movement
into jerky stops and starts

The Watcher perches high aloft
Gargoyle-esque
Witness to all
The cleansing has begun

Humans scurry
Hurrying to the false security of their insignificant burrows
Praying to any god who will listen
not to be caught in the fray
for even they,
in all their ignorance,
can sense what’s to come

Shadows slink through the darkness
Stalking the fringes
Waiting to pounce on any who stray too close
Thunder rumbles,
Wind howls
Masking the screams of the unfortunate
as they are torn, shredded
sinew from bone
Piles of teeth and hair
All that’s left to mark their passing

The Watcher sits
Keeping score
Many more to purge
Before the slaughter can cease
No one with breath in their body
is safe on this baleful night

© 2012 Barbara Huffert