LULLABY
Night drops by
In a coat of onyx and blue
Lights up his silver pipe
And asks how do you do
Night perches on my bed
Says – kiss goodbye to sleep
Blows smoke rings in the air
Throws a dreambone at my feet
Night wiggles his long fingers
Taps them right across my brain
Cranks up those same old tunes
With the silent scream refrain
Night is the skilful butcher
Of a thousand hopeful sheep
That he hobbles one by one
If they so much as bleat
Night knocks over my warm milk
Pours cold water in my bath
Then hides my sleeping pills –
The gaslighting psychopath
It is a twisted sort of pact
That Night and I both keep
He stuffs my mouth with stars
And strokes me while I weep
Some nights he does not come at all
Still I count the hours in vain
Until he saunters straight back in
To render me insane
But Night cannot withstand
The radiant light of dawn
And slinks away defeated
Upon the break of morn
And then my eyes close shut
For blissful hours of peace
Before I start the day again
And hope I do not oversleep
Allyson Dowling is a writer and translator who lives in County Wicklow, Ireland with her husband, teenagers and cats. She is currently in the second year of a Higher Diploma in Creative Writing with Oxford University.