The fox is an animal of the night
Running
Laughing
Hunter
Exhorting in the embrace of darkness
Safe
And smiling

Me?
I shelter in my room
Clinging to the embers of the retiring fire
Enticing the warmth to linger
The candle to tarry just a little longer
For the dark is a place of fear
And the unknown and things hopefully forgotten

The fox dances a mocking jig
Across fields and dale
Not troubled by the past
Or the yet to come
Not a prisoner of imaginings
A victim of memories bittersweet
The fox knows not the pangs of conscience

And me I crave the sunlight
After ragged sleep
My demons exercised for a time
My haunting ceased
While the fox who has killed
And eaten his fill
Sleeps peaceful in Elysium’s embrace