"Nocturnal Beast" by Camryn Harvey (Penobscot County Winner)

and even if the daylight offers a comforting embrace alight with blooming flowers and silken breezes,

the night is a beast with a dripping maw that refuses to let go. 

the night is dim with sorrow and tidal waves that drown the lonely, hollow souls.

and the sand is scattered with sunken bodies that are picked to pieces by vultures or vermin,

bones reduced to marrow, skin to ash. 

and hair that twisted in the breeze lay strewn in pieces in the beast's claws. 

for the night that offers solace does not creep too close to the night that offers destruction. 

a hunkering beast cowers in sunlight will flourish in a somber night,

and no matter how joyful the day,

the night shreds each remain with a blatant disregard for the work endured to enjoy a blissful sunrise.

pitiful, we stand, against the ghastly night. 

where terrors that once slumbered in the deepest caverns run amuck with unbridled glee.

each tick of the clock is another body struck against the beasts of the night. 

and elation runs as red as blood.

and blood smells as sweet as the dawn. 

and in the dawn, a shaking, mottled hand will reach for the first rays of sunlight,

begging for just another sunrise, 

pleading to live amongst the curling wildflowers.

and the beast hisses against the piercing sun,

and retreats to the night. 

which surely will come again. 

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Camryn Harvey is a seventeen year old senior at Bangor High School, who writes about her own lived experiences and emotions. While in school, she writes poetry and novels in her free time, as well as her extracurriculars, such as competitive dance and soccer. Her poem, “Nocturnal Beast”, is a reflection of her emotions while dealing with insomnia.