Bedtime Call

The plains are lonely tonight,

But not the mountains. 

The whippoorwill keeps me company

Singing our song back and forth. 

My dad calls coyote howls “hay-hoos”. 

Says they’re monsters that eat little girls

Who play in the woods after dark. 

But the hay-hoos are my friends,

Just like the whippoorwills.

The sun soon starts her slumber. 

The howls begin quiet,

Then my whippoorwill friend

Stops answering our song. 

The porch light flickers.