Jeffrey Tillery - Night Garden

Half moon half way through its sojourn
The sun is unaware
Moths charmed by my lantern halo
Brown bat finds its fare

Foggy, misty, dark and still
Beside my garden griffin
Turned up collar to the chill
Dark leaves start to glisten

Snails slide out from their morass
In spiral armor brittle
Slow relentless they amass
Attack nibble by nibble

In the hedge raccoon eyes glow
They're shy but not afraid
Because they love their escargot
They'll risk a brief foray

Tree frogs on the menu too
They sing out unaware
Their end comes from the fence-top
Opossum thoroughfare

Earth worms, stink bugs, millipedes, rats
Spiders cast nets for their nights catch
All will flee the skunks and cats
Teeming nightlife in this patch

Gophers clear their burrows
My labors undermined
By day I'll set my traps below
The mounds they left behind

Wooing in the border thicket
Quietly I listen
The love song of a lonely cricket
Chirping proposition

Hooting from a distant tree
The horned owl says good night
And soars off for a midnight snack
As I turn out the light

Jeffrey Tillery

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/night-garden/