The Drifter

Night-time is upon us and the children are a'bed
It's time for all the wiser men to gently rest their heads
Upon their feathered pillows and to softly start to dream
Lest the drifter comes upon them in his quest to raise a scream.

The Drifter goes from place to place as softly as the air
In search of souls to steal away from those with minds aware
Of all the things around them, those that lie there all awake,
He knows that you're not sleeping and your soul he's sure to
take.
He'll visit in your bedroom and there'll be no place to hide
For the Drifter always finds you and he'll stand right by your
side
Until you look him in his eyes with terror in your heart
Then fall into his consciousness and from the world depart.
His eyes are burning, blazing white, yet red as fires of hell
His gentle touch as cold as steel but burning with his spell.
Adorned with floating cape of black and top-hat on his head
This gentleman will stroke your neck then squeeze 'til you are
dead.
Reaching down into your soul he'll slip his will inside
Then gather all that lies within and slowly let it slide
Into the pits of nothingness that lie beneath this Earth
From where the screams of soul-less beings ring out - much to his
mirth.
He'll watch what was your consciousness make pleas for swift
reprieve
He'll watch it as it falls below, he'll feel no need to grieve,
Then while your partner sleeps beside he'll open up his case
And slip your empty soul inside it's final resting place -
Within this bag ten-thousand souls are silent, cold and still,
A lifeless living monument towards his evil will,
Sometimes when he's alone in what must pass as his domain
He likes to take them out the case and taste once more their
pain.
He lays them out before him and he gently breathes the scent
Of fear and loss and suffering - their lingering lament:
That they should not have suffered so, should not be suffering
still,
That truthful souls should not be judged by one with evil will,
But judged they were, and also cursed,the moment that they lay
Awake long after sunset's passing signalled end of day -
And signalled too the coming of the drifter to the Earth
In search of those who fail to sleep and fail to see his worth,
He knows if you're a'sleeping and he knows if you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good no difference will it make.
Those who sleep so soundly as he drifts from place to place
Will never feel his passing as he whispers past their face
To stand beside the sleepless wife, husband, daughter, son,
And wait for them to meet his eyes so he can start his fun.
And when the soul is safely cased and silent in its cell,
Back past the sleeping kin he'll slide and they will never tell,
Once more outside he'll pause again to find another soul
Whose mind resists the mask of sleep, the mask that keeps us
whole,
Then to that mind he'll drift along to start it all again
His evil mind rejoicing at the thought of coming pain,
He'll carry on 'til sunrise when he'll gently drift away
To count his stolen bounty in the warming light of day.
But soon enough the dark will come and he'll come drifting back
To search out all the wakeful souls and put them in his sack
So mark my words my faithful friend and learn my lesson well:
Night-time is for sleeping lest you want to visit Hell
Don't stay awake, don't fantasise, just let your mind go free.
The night is for the Drifter not the likes of you and me,
Close your eyes when darkness falls and visit sleeping climes
Lest your soul be forfeit to the Drifter for all time.