[John Whitworth]

Good stuff, Ann, but I can't see how you can lose a line. Ah well, it is a poem.

[Jayne Osborn]

John - I mean our 'new' John (Samson),

Welcome to Eratosphere - and especially to D & A. Apologies for the oversight in not giving you a welcome when you first posted on the Oldie thread.

I can relate to your Ikea phobia! I can't understand their instruction diagrams with the little men on, which are meant to be self-explanatory

I was also up in your beautiful city recently, for part of the Edinburgh Festival.

Jayne

[John Samson]

Thank you for your very kind welcome, Jayne.

Eratosphere has been a delightful discovery. My appreciation goes to the wonderful person(s) who set it up.

The best of success to yourself and all your members.

[Douglas G. Brown]

I got involved in home repairs, and forgot about the deadline, but here it is anyway;

A Cynophobe’s Elegy on the Premature Death of His Neighbor’s Dog, Cerberus

(Ethylene glycol, the active ingredient in automotive antifreeze, is sweet tasting, but highly toxic to dogs.)

The vicious cur my neighbor keeps,
For many years, gave me the creeps.

The bark, the snarl, those teeth he’d bare
Gave me an existential scare.

The turds, the pee, that awful smell;
He seemed to be a beast from Hell.

The fear of being torn to shreds
Drove me to psychiatric meds.

But, now there’s come a tragic end
To he who’s never been my friend.

Old Cerberus no more will bark
From crack of dawn till after dark;

Nor anymore, will tree my cat,
Dig up my lawn, and stuff like that.

He’d used to do just as he’d please,
Until he drank that antifreeze.

But now he’s silent - and I’m sure,
Declining to room temp’rature;

And I can post upon my blog
That Prestone mutes a barking dog.

[Graham King]

Originally Posted by Ann Drysdale

Afraid of Days
...
I am afraid of the days when nothing happens
Because of the nights, the nights when it all does.

Ann, if I may suggest, you already have your solution there in the first half of your last two lines.. why not condense those into one?
"I am afraid of the days... because of the nights."