Blue Monster

Little girl with golden hair, little girl not quite so fair
Cannot sleep like the others do, in the afternoon nap to protect from loo*
She crawls out of the bed to play, in the shade where she must stay
Away from the flood of sunlight at the gate, to avoid a deadly fate
Standing at the cusp of light and dark, she hears a stray dog’s wretched bark
No one on the street at all, then a figure dark and tall
He is blue with fearsome face; tusks, flaring nostrils, red eyes ablaze
Transfixed at him she stares, he looks back at her and glares
Paralyzed she stands at the verge of sun and shade, he turns his head and walks away
In the stark sunlight he disappears, she goes to bed out of fear
Creeping back into the darkness of the room, she wraps herself to her mother’s womb
His visage and gait ingrained in her mind, there he resides for her to find


*Hindi/Urdu- very strong hot afternoon winds that can cause heatstroke and death.