The Thing I Am Is Everything

One Sunny Night

Wait! This isn’t right!
There shouldn’t be a sunbeam
shining in the night!

But it’s not a dream!
I hold sunlight on my hand
and follow its gleam…

Shadows seem to stand
and drop down as I walk by,
hiding where they land.

The Moon, from up high,
is watching like a statue
of a staring eye.

When an Owl asks, “Hoo?”
Jumping, I cry out, “Who me?”
The Owl says, “Yes You!”

The Owl in her tree
is sitting in a shadow,
waiting patiently.

I say, “I must know
why one sunbeam will not set,
so I have to go!”

The Owl says, “Not yet.”
And a wolf begins to howl…
My hands start to sweat.

“A wolf on the prowl
is not the one you should fear.
I am!” shrieks the Owl.

I run like a deer!
The Owl’s shadow chasing, calls,
“Leave your shadow here!”

When my shadow falls,
I scream, “Shadow, I’ll be back!”
“It’s mine!” the Owl bawls.

Down the sunbeam’s track
I hear a stampeding sound.
Another attack!?

I drop to the ground.
A Wolf, Mouse, Boar and Bear run
to see what they’ve found.

“We’re having such fun!
Come see! Come see!” the Mouse squeaks,
“Come see what we’ve done!”

“Look at how it leaks!”
The Mouse points to the place where
the bright sunbeam streaks.

A soup thermos there
has a crack, and sunlight pours
out across the air.

The Grizzly Bear roars,
“We’ve captured this piece of day.
It’s not Owl’s or yours!”

When he stomps away,
“Oh! Your shadows are gone too,”
is all that I say.

“What were we to do?”
the Wolf whispers with a shrug.
“Owl took them, and flew.”

“Please, I need a hug,”
the bristly Boar loudly snorts.
“That Owl is a thug!”

When the Wolf reports,
“Owl will bring them all back soon.”
The Bear bellows, “Warts!”

The voice of the Moon
whispers, “Let that sunbeam out.
It’s nighttime, not noon.”

The Boar hides his snout.
He grunts through the leaves and dirt,
“Please Moon, please don’t shout.”

The Mouse climbs my shirt,
and squeals from my shoulder, loud,
“Owl! Alert! Alert!”

The Owl leads a crowd
of shadows, piled in a clump,
like one big dark cloud.

I feel the Mouse jump.
Nervously I run and hide
behind a tree stump.

The Boar, at my side,
cries, “Why did we have to make
night and day collide?”

He whines, “Owl will take
our thermos full of sunshine.
Please, I need some cake!”

Look! A Porcupine
with her shadow still attached!
The Owl screeches, “Mine!”

Is the Owl outmatched?
Her shadow dives, and gets stuck.
It won’t come detached!

The Boar says, “What luck…
Porcupine’s shadow has spears
where Owl’s shadow struck.”

Bluish light appears,
spreading like a curtain’s rise
as the morning nears.

While the mad Owl flies,
throwing shadows she admits,
“Daylight I despise!”

Each thrown shadow hits,
making darker, one by one,
where the thermos sits.

The Wolf, on the run,
howls, “Please stop throwing shadows!
Just join in our fun!”

The Owl turns and throws…
Look! The Mouse’s shadow now
hangs from the Wolf’s nose!

And I don’t know how…
but there’s a Squirrel being trailed
by a shadow Cow!

Our hideout has failed!
A shadow Moose hits the Boar
and sticks like it’s nailed.

The Bear screams, “No more!”
He runs through the danger zone
bellowing, “RRRRRRROAR!!!”

“Holy snot…” I groan.
Look! The shadow on that Snail
used to be my own!

A Snake shadow tail
swishes on the Bear’s behind.
Why won’t this Owl fail?

Day and Night combined
somehow made the Owl master
over Shadowkind.

What a disaster!
The Bear runs! The Owl gives chase!
The Owl is faster!

It’s become a race.
“That’s our thermos!” the Bear booms,
but from second place!

A shadow consumes
the Bear. Now he’s lost in dark.
The Owl’s triumph looms.

It’s a shadow Shark
that has swallowed the Bear whole!
“Bad news,” I remark.

Look! Over that knoll!
The Porcupine wanders in.
from her late-night stroll.

Look at the Owl spin!
She sees her shadow return
still stuck, to her chagrin.

The sky starts to burn
with a new-morning’s orange
in today’s pattern.

The Sun’s upper fringe
from the distant ground now sprouts,
making the Owl cringe.

“Go back, Sun!” she shouts,
and flies up into the trees.
“My shadow,” she pouts.

Suddenly I sneeze,
and the next shadow she flings…
is a shadow Breeze!

Onto me it clings
like a dark and windy flag,
or like nighttime’s wings.

I watch the Owl drag
the thermos through the treetops.
“Mine!” I hear her brag.

The Porcupine stops
just to yawn and shake her quills…
The Owl’s thermos drops!

Spinning sunlight spills
as the soup thermos tumbles!
“Catch it!” the Boar shrills.

“Mine,” the Owl grumbles.
The Wolf and I go sprinting,
but the Wolf stumbles!

Sunshine is glinting
from the morning dew like stars.
I lunge while squinting!

The Mouse squeals, “It’s ours!”
I see red in one quick glance.
The Sun looks like Mars!

Floating in a trance,
I catch it! It’s in my hands!
Look at the Mouse dance!

Diving, the Owl lands
with feet buried like tree roots
where her shadow stands.

“Get me out!” she hoots.
She is stuck, wearing the Earth
like a pair of boots.

With voice full of mirth,
a Skunk laughs, “There, Shadow Thief!
There’s YOUR shadow’s worth!”

Her laughter’s cut brief
as the Owl’s shadow breaks loose,
to the Owl’s relief.

The Mouse squeaks, “Vamoose!”
He and the Skunk go running.
I stand and yell, “Truce!!”

The Owl is cunning.
She says, “Come here, where I am…
The view is stunning!”

I go like a lamb…
The sunrise is hypnotic.
The Mouse hollers, “Scram!”

How idiotic!
Suddenly I’m in a trap,
and it’s chaotic!

As shadow wings flap,
the Owl summons shadow troops…
and on me they wrap!

The Owl’s shadow swoops!
Soon I’ll be completely blind!
Shadows pounce in groups!

Dark has me confined,
but with sunlight in my grip…
therefore, I don’t mind.

I let the lid flip…
And, FWOOM! The thermos flashes
faster than a whip!

The sunburst splashes
all shadows out of being…
then off it dashes.

What am I seeing?!!
The Owl has dug loose her feet,
and now she’s fleeing!

We watch her retreat.
The Wolf howls, “Come be our friend!”
The Boar whines, “Let’s eat.”

The Mouse squeaks, “Our friend!!?”
The Bear growls, “Ask Owl to brunch!
I will NOT attend!”

But I have a hunch
Owl would not come anyway.
She dislikes this bunch.

“Well hello! Good day!”
Cheerfully the Sun’s voice rings.
“Oh! Here’s my lost ray!”

A morning bird sings…
The fading Moon, with a yawn,
sighs, “Goodnight, Earthlings.”

Now the Moon is gone…
The Sun laughs, “Oh! You all need
brand new shadows drawn!”

“Oh yes! Yes indeed!”
The Sun chuckles as he works,
drawing at light-speed.

“Somewhere that Owl lurks
missing this re-shadowing,”
the Skunk says, and smirks.

Warm wind is blowing,
and a shadow from my feet
is quickly growing!

Now it is complete!
I wave my arms to admire…
The Boar snorts, “Looks sweet!”

The shadows inspire
furry hugs from everyone…
which makes me perspire.

The Bear grunts, “Thanks, Sun.”
To me he says, “Our friendship
cannot be undone.”

The Boar’s upper lip
is quivering and quaking…
His tears start to drip.

With whiskers shaking,
the Mouse squeals, “This night was great!
Eeee! No mistaking!”

I cannot see straight.
Neither eye has slept a wink!
I say, “Wow! It’s late!”

The Wolf sighs, “I think
if Owl’s broke… forgiveness mends.”
Her big heart won’t shrink!

As this long night ends
I have shadows in my head,
and I have new friends.

…and with goodbyes said,
following the morning light
I go home to bed…