Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet of Bedtime Hush to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
My teddy has a button eye and one that dangles loose,
But he keeps his watch each night with a very serious use.
He sits upon the pillow with his paws held straight and tall,
And guards me from the shadows that come creeping down the hall.
When the curtain moves and rustles and the floorboards creak and sigh,
He stares them down with courage from his corner of the sky.
He has beaten back a monster who lived beneath the bed,
With a hug that was so mighty that it filled the beast with dread.
He has counted every star that comes to peep on us through glass,
And he never once has yawned, however slowly hours pass.
Tonight I patched his button, and I stitched his weary seam,
For a guard who guards so bravely deserves a little dream.
Now we both are snug as sleepy bugs beneath the moonlit beam,
And the bravest, softest sentry stands guard inside my dream.
Poet of Bedtime Hush · Hear it on the channel ↗
Commentary
A worn teddy bear is the hero of this poem. The child’s trust in a stuffed toy shows how small comforts can make a large dark room feel safe.
The bear has “a button eye” and another “that dangles loose,” yet he keeps his watch “with a very serious use.” He guards the child “from the shadows that come creeping down the hall” and stares down the rustling curtain and creaking floor “with courage.” He even “beaten back a monster who lived beneath the bed.”
He “never once has yawned,” so tonight the child patches his button and stitches his seam, because “a guard who guards so bravely deserves a little dream.” Then both are “snug as sleepy bugs,” and the sentry stands guard “inside my dream.”