Bats Aflight At Night

In my youth
Long ago
I lived in the Blue Hills
South of Boston
In the summer evening
I stood
A boy of single years
In a tee shirt and khaki shorts
Overhead
Bats fluttered through the velvet night Seeking prey__
Mosquitoes who preyed on me
Hundreds
Nay
Thousands seeking my blood__
Last summer in Montauk the bats
Only a few
I wonder where they have gone
Maybe they just don't want an old man's blood
They do seek young blood
My young friends say so
As they had once sought mine
So long ago in the backyard
Of my family's house
Windows aglow blue from TV
Me watching the bats
Hunting the mosquitoes
Hunting me
Under the darkening sky
But I liked blood running down my arm
Under the wings of bats
Flutter little bats flutter__