Sometime Monsters

They're few enough who see,
and fewer still who do not fear.

By day these sidewalks are quite ordinary.
They shine with rain, are dull with overcast
or dance with tree shadows in summer.
By night, they teem with miraculous monsters.
Chimera's snake-head hisses--
you thought it the sound of tires on pavement.
That massive maned shadow in the distance
(by day, a jowly, dozy mastiff)
sports a poisoned scorpion tail.
They're few enough who see.

Came a nightwalking stranger from the east,
who never saw the day side of any city.
He was on speaking terms with monsters,
people found him strange.
I was taking out the garbage when he passed,
paused to speak with the gargoyle across the way,
then smiled at me without fear:
"Dark glasses at this time of night?"
(You wouldn't want to see my eyes at night.
It's by day I don't wear glasses.)

I gave him directions, didn't ask his business.
They're few enough who see,
and fewer still who do not fear.