He said that monsters and hunters
Occupied his room.
Searching for him.
Lurking in the shadows
Of train tracks
And construction sites.
Is anybody really safe?
All I could do was
Hold him.
Each shiver
Bubbling up on the surface
Of his body
Left me paralyzed.
Each clattering tooth
Was a reminder
Of the empty basements
And windowless, doorless rooms
I shivered in once
Or twice.
I reminded him
To let light linger
In the shadows.
Shivering ceased.
The dark feels colder
When you travel it alone.
A different version of my other poem, "Time of Glory."