The Vanguard

Yesterday dark, mother climbed in my bed
And asked to sleep along me
Which fact was very unusual and strange

And I asked mother: How come?
And she was coy, just said I wouldn't understand
But she gave in

I am afraid, she said
Of what? Was my immediate query
Of suffocating, replied she

She explained that last night
Demons climbed on her bed frame
And grasped her by the throat

She couldn't breathe and she awoke
And she was shaking in distress
And even as we talked she feared the name

Of that malevolence which bid her welcome
In her sleep's retire and banished her
Then from the kingdom of Orpheus

I hugged my mother a strong one
And reassured her I was there
And I could almost see the demon crying in despair

For it was won, the war was over
Her conscience and her heart were purged
And no demon: ghastly or of flesh
Will terrorise my mother evermore
For I am her vanguard

And the hug, it seems, holds most medicinal of powers
To think, how strong "I love you" would have been

[GM]