Moonlight Shadows

On vast dark fields
where the fireflies glow
where darkness cling
to darker terrain
emerged the gatherers
robed in moonlight
to claim what’s theirs
the souls bonded

The night of the harvest
bringing in the sheaves
no rejoicing
nor pity nor mercy
for bonded they were
and bonded they would be

A father who traded his soul
for the wellness of his son
a mother who gave all
for the good life of her child
a  daughter who gave
for her mother’s health
a son bargained
for the life of a dying father
they paid in full that night

yet the son knows not
he slobbers in jail
killing a man in a drugstore
to pay for his fix
the child has forgotten
she struts on stage
peddling glad rags
a beauty
Mother’s dead
So?

The mother of the daughter
Is long gone
The father of the son
Is dying in an old folk’s home
To what end sacrifice

Only the Moonlight Walkers
Won
They harvested
Come Morn
They were gone
Their clients had paid in full.