--- title: Before Dawn description: Alliterative verse about staying up all night created: 2008-12-03 modified: 2008-12-03 status: finished previous: /fiction/snowbank next: /fiction/brave-poem confidence: fiction cssExtension: dropcaps-goudy ... The darkness before Dawn is lithe, live, And as it coils, it circumscribes sight, sealing a small world without others. And one feels wrapped in this world, warm (no matter the weather), And forget their fears---by humans forlorn. Because we are porcupines, poking each other And though we want to walk together, Always our shadow shows behind us And from our hearts fear has not fled. It reminds us to remain on guard, And includes our intimate friends as Eternal enemies whose shadows are strange, And not ours.