Dream catcher

he only comes out when it’s dim 
and the streets are quiet, he gets 
misunderstood because he’s 
too tall, too slim, and too grim

by day he dreams about love 
and friends something he’s 
never had, the only time he 
was touched was from a shove 

shunned by the village people 
he lives in a quaint little cottage
at the back of the butchers 
only friend he’s got is a beetle 

he found it on a gloaming night 
the little bug hangs around and 
listens to his lonely lost woes, it 
makes him feel like he’s not blight 

pushed aside this lonely creature 
is desperate to feel what others do, so
he makes potions and bottles them up 
then slips into the night like a creeper 

under the pale light from a crescent moon 
he stalks the streets looking for open
windows and when he finds them he
blows the silky potions into the room 

as the people sleep he steals their 
unconscious thoughts, luna dreams 
vicariously living through their minds 
he leans in and catches them with a snare 

for this is the only way he can know 
what it feels like to be human, it’s only 
fair isn’t it, the beetle can’t talk back 
this house is done, off to the next one he goes