I'm lounging against

this ancient, moss-clad, grey barked 

stately tree,

Hoping to find respite from 

my toiling, tiresome travel.

It shelters me

with its stooping, sweeping, swaying

green, heavy branches.

Surrounded in a verdant, fading light

I begin to drift away.

But as I reach the

shores of sleep, I see

a pair of pale, pointed eyes

staring down at me,  

filling me with a fear

I have never known.

A lightbulb, an epiphany.

My sudden, terror-tinged realization:

No matter where we rest,

there is no safe haven

Until we breathe our final breath.