The power of distraction

I walked to the creek today to complain
It was muddy behind a mid-morning rain.
It's citizens set up a howling refrain
But I had a gripe and I made it plain

Things were better for me in the late afternoon
The frogs and the snakes and a curious coon
who I met by the stream that day around noon
Were gone from my mind and so was their tune.

I still had the problem I told them about
the one that took me to the creek to pout
so when dusk arrived I gathered my doubt
I opened the door and then I went out

I had it in mind to return to the creek
I'd listen to the frogs and coons nightly shriek
I'd raise my voice to a dominating peak
and again they would listen to the human speak

I didn't expect to be drunk by the night
consumed like a firefly quenched by the light
I couldn't have known the dark would ignite
an explosion of creatures hidden from sight

They devoured my rage in their deafening teem
and along my way to the edge of the stream
the rhythm of the night like a noon sunbeam
enraptured my senses in a fluffy dream

So different from the day was the dark from the light
And so loud were the creatures in the still of the night
that fear took me over and I set to flight
from the danger I imagined I'd have to fight

Racing through thickets alive with snakes
stumbling through branches in the forest breaks
I weighed my chances and raised the stakes
ignoring my pounding heart and its quakes

and there in the moments when death seemed to dance
on the edge of the forest I took my last chance
looking round I hurtled like a spiraling lance
a scream to the night through my smothering trance

I shouted with all my remaining might
I was here in the day to complain alright
but now I've forgotten what I came to fight
my complaint suffocated by the rhythm of the night