Inspired by all three works of art

A Night at the Inn

The inn settles for the night,
its wavy-glass eyes shaded and shuttered,
its walls steeped in memories of strangers and lovers
and stained with centuries of smoke and tea.

Outside a tawny owl calls, twit twoo,
startling a badger, who brushes past
a man lost in the tangled growth
of the old canal path–
the badger yelps, the man screams,

but no one tucked inside the inn hears
anything but the moon’s lullaby.

Under an ensorcelling quilt,
a curly-haired girl dreams–
a secret garden and a flower that glows with light,
she wakes with a smile,
as owl and badger close their eyes.

I am once again participating in Paul Brookes’ April Ekphrastic Challenge. Each day, I will post my poem(s) here. You can see the art and read the other responses by going to Paul’s site here.