PAD Chapbook Challenge Day 20

Today's prompt from Poetic Asides: Write a "light" poem. I've actually written a couple of poems that deal with light this month, including a persona poem from the point of view of a refracted sunbeam.  I used a favorite alt-rock tune from the 90's at my jumping-off point for this one: But a funny thing happened: I wasn't entirely pleased with the first poem and went in a different direction with the quote, producing a slightly different angle:

Night Light

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you?

                                    - They Might Be Giants,

                                    "Birdhouse in Your Soul"

My granddaughter, who has napped

through November dusk, awakens scared

by sudden dark. I need a night light, she says,

so I promise to get one at the store.

There are many to choose -

Disney characters, Hello Kitty, and so forth -

but I pick a generic model

with a plain translucent cover.

It's enough to soothe her, and now

when she wakes, there is a faint glow

and shadows that have become familiar.

The monsters don't like it,

this lighthouse beacon that guides her

out of the sea of her dreams,

away from rocky fears,

and safely to her bedroom shore.

Night Light (II)

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you?
- They Might Be Giants,
"Birdhouse in Your Soul"

When you get tired of singing your song of light,
when you eventually burn out, who will fix you?

We may all be sleeping, and your beacon that once stood tall
may not protect us any longer from the rocky coasts
and shallow shoals of our dreams.

When your filament goes to black and we wake,
the monsters will slink out of the shadows
and loom like something more than they are.

Maybe you need a night light too, to back you up,
something contemporary like Frozen or Hello Kitty,
innocent enough, but with the strength of ten lighthouses,
and an LED that will last for years.