A Child's Fragile Sleeping Soul

They tried to steal his soul.
Creeping in,
In the middle of the night.
Waiting for the crack
Between the dreams
When he was neither here
Nor there.
When he was spinning in
His mind,
Crying out in his sleep.
When he no longer remembered
His name.

They tried to steal it then.
When he was not remembering.

But just at the moment
When they might have snatched it.
Just when his mind was lost and hungry,
Just when he cried out helplessly,

I reached over
And touched his hand.

And the evil spirits
Were once more
Cast adrift
Forever.