Night Fears

Waking at night, suddenly, Silence and darkness, Save the whisper of the wind And a faint glow of orange light. The familiar clutch of fear, Always there. But fear of what? The unknown? Or the known certainty that the end will come, Gradually or suddenly, Peacefully or brutally, Inevitably. Our lives are but a tiny indentation, Then the water closes over. No sign, no mark, no trace, Of a life half-lived, Of family and friends half loved. Of chances not taken.