Who walks abroad while we are tucked up in our beds, oblivious to the business, the coming and going of the night creatures? Disturbed from slumber by noises unheard by our conscious ears we peer out through the blinds, past the glimmer of our reflection in the window glass.
But we do not have eyes to see. The scientists tell us the wavelengths are all wrong, our mothers voices remind us to eat our carrots. The darkness swims out there before us, giving nothing away.
Then we must use science to save us from an overdose of carrots. A small box of electronic cleverness that we can strap to a tree or a fencepost that can act as a silent observer, snitching on the activities of the creatures who own the night.
While we sleep on, the box keeps its vigil and keeps its secrets until the following day when one of us retrieves it from its wild place. The report is in. We know now who it is that roams field and forest when they think no one can see them.
The badger busies about the wooded glades lit only by stars. The frosted leaves crackle as he forages for food.
The gentle timid deer, always alert to danger, might have heard the tiny sounds emitted by the hidden box of tricks.
And the rabbit, caught mid-leap as it hurries off to a place of safety. What are the creatures of the night that spook the rabbit and the deer? They are yet to show themselves. Still we keep watch for the moment when they too are caught by the clever little electronic box full of science…
14thcenturypoet 