Fourth Watch
a monologue by Stephen Douglas
Much can be written and spoken
About the fourth watch.
A division of night is the common
Theory. But for you and me
It can be the restless, sleepless watch
When wide awake with sensation of
Thoughts meandering, torturing
The mind with doubts, lies, and
Possibilities. As for others, it’s when an
incident returns hauntingly back,
with such force self-control is
cripped with fear, and
Reality beckons toward the
Crevice of despair, whispering harm.
Much can be said and painted
About the fourth watch
the fractious toddler succumbs,
at last, to the closing of eyelids, so
those keeping watch may drift off to
dreams of peace, and tranquillity
or maybe, it’s the wandering
adolescent who sneaks home, using
outside stairs to the open window.
For those in refugee camps or prison cells,
it seems nothing will ever be
good again. Hope fights to stay
victorious. anything that happens
seems magnified in the fourth watch. . .
Much has been written, recorded
about the fourth watch
but it is the re-telling of a night’s
storm which stirs the hearts of many.
Fishermen set off to row across Lake Galilee,
when a storm beset them, so
strong, they begin to feel forsaken,
lost to their power to keep rowing,
keep being in control of their
circumstances.
When in the fourth watch
They see a figure coming on waves!
In terror they cower down, thinking
A ghost is walking, toward them.
The worse of all fishing stories is
Freaking them out of their bodies.
Much will be conjured, re-told
About the fourth watch.
Is it the deep lying interconnected
Psyche of our human being, aroused
In the mist of a stormy experience.
Literally and figuratively?
Is it a metaphor? In the turmoil,
Whatever it is, in the anxiety or
loss unbearable.
Anyway, this ghostlike figure
is present in our turmoil
but of ‘cause it can’t be and
we frail human beings, tell stories,
of demons retreading into their dark
where they belong, before our
day-light catches them and
us conceding to make
sense of the mystery.
Much is made of the last watch
about hours known as the fourth
watch. Now in human events –
resurgence of racism, warfare, viral diseases,
rule of tyrants, gang bullies,
drug pushers, and the menace of
climate. But if we humans find how to
be still and silent; to lay aside fear;
even of Death, and the demands of
serving Self. . . .
Then the eyes of the heart*
May indeed see Him bring hope,
Peace and a way forward each day,
In faith and helpfulness
As Peter discovered, we learn
What we can’t do to save the world.
We learn the importance of being
Alive, and of being true,
In all circumstances especially—
In the Fourth Watch.
* ”May the eyes of your heart be
Enlightened to see the hope to
which He has called you.”
Ephesians 1:18
A found poem from the writing of\ Ross Miller “The Fourth Watch”,\ from A Field at Anathoth.
© stephen c douglas, as kiwi poet,
06 November 2025