Midnight

Endless chimes

Then silence again

Still no sleep comes

But thick darkness smothers me

The power cut prevents me reading

I should have kept candles in case

Eyes open or closed gave no less darkness

Then suddenly a whisper, or was it wind outside?

It came again, more clearly now, but it wasn’t English

“Omnes interficere” from the mouth of a desperate but elderly man

Twice more it called and...

I was thinking of work as I took Johnson for a walk through the woods. As we neared the edge I could make him out stopped at the edge barking, shufflingon his feet but careful not to proceed. It was like he was hoping some threat would go awayso he could proceed. Probably another dog. Or maybe a sheep had wondered over from the other field.

On nearing him I could see that he was barking towards a ...