Author: Sanjana Atre, Class X G
On a gusty, moonless midnight,
panting from wear, they trekked
As the looming woods greeted their view,
stoking their grit, they sped
They brisked, trampling the undergrowth
At forks they made a cease
Until they reached a thicket, pitch dark,
their pulses were at ease
Mystified by the gloom, they baulked
half inclined to make a return
Terror from the unknowable,
their rationale failed to discern
As a grisly shriek tore the quiet,
sending chills down their spine
A swoop ahead was presumed by them
as a vampire stooping to dine
As if to fuel their horror,
a silhouette tickled their sight
“It’s a shaggy beast, spread-eagled!”
Stuttered one, leaking might
“I see its limbs’ menacing flail!”
mouthed other, quelling a yell
T’was before they had mustered strength
and hurtled back pell-mell
Crazed by their ghastly brainchild,
they sprinted, yielding to guile
It’s intriguing how the unknown
accounts for hideous tales of vile
However, by the quirk of fate,
they stumbled over a rock
and risking a glance behind their backs,
saw their beast revealed, in shock
As the guttering glow of a fire fly
lit the brambles ahead,
half awaiting a gruesome scene,
they got mocked by truth instead
Beyond the thicket’s eerie realms
a tree had come to die
Its branches, bleak,
swaying in the gale blowing by
The shriek had been an owlish hoot
and the swoop that of a bat
Condemning their curse of reasoning
the trekkers fuming sat
For a few moments, they pondered
and relieved, they wryly smiled
And appeasing their, now drumming hearts,
got to their feet and sighed
Bantering their nightly antics,
the travelers ambled on
Past the mundane deadwood
Into the shades of dawn
