The Ways Of The Night<\/p>\n
I am a creature of the night.
\nCausing fear, I must stay out of sight.
\nI am a dreadful looking beast.
\nBorn this way, it will never cease.
\nI only come out when it is dark.
\nDark clothes & a hoodie. I am smart.
\nI cause fear, then a rage in others.
\nI must remain alone. Not my druthers.
\nWhen quite young my guard got lax.
\nSeveral punks jumped my back.
\nThey got me down & poured gas on me.
\nThey lit me up like a torch to see.
\nI screamed & ran, going insane from pain.
\nI tried to outrun the flames.
\nI blindly ran into the river.
\nThe flames went out as I shivered.
\nI had started to go under fast.
\nI thought this would be my last.
\nThen one like me was pulling me in.
\nHe pulled me out & took me with him.
\nHe had a place way under the city.
\nHim & his father took care of me.
\nIt was touch & go for a long time.
\nOnly pain was on my mind.
\nLittle by little I began to heal.
\nI was strong. I wanted to live & feel.
\nMy scars were ugly, but I already was.
\nMy hair grew back instead of fuzz.
\nThe man who saved me was ugly too.
\nHe had a good idea what I\u2019d been through.
\nHis father was also the same.
\nThey stayed alive by playing my game.
\nThey hated no one. They understood.
\nIt was our looks that made us no good.
\nI lived with them many years.
\nThere were many laughs & a few tears.
\nThen, the one I called grandfather, died.
\nFather was devastated. Be strong. He tried.
\nLater, my father was caught by hoods.
\nMy father knew they were up to no good.
\nThey killed him by beating him with clubs.
\nI dearly miss all of his hugs.
\nI am alone as I walk the night.
\nAny flame gives me a real fright.
\nI make sure no one ever sees me.
\nI want to stay alive & remain free.<\/p>\n
—————————–R. W. Johnson—–(2016)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ways Of The Night I am a creature of the night. Causing fear, I must stay out of sight. I am a dreadful looking beast. Born this way, it will never cease. I only come out when it is dark. Dark clothes & a hoodie. I am smart. I cause fear, then a rage … Continue reading The Ways Of The Night<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,29,12,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-bird-poetry","category-life-lessons","category-random","category-tragedy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1847,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions\/1847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wordsmithwisdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}