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The Night Watch is inspired by a poem of the same name by Scottish poet Niall Campbell which expresses his personal experiences as a new father. This tender and heartfelt text captures a nocturnal dreamscape of half-sleep and earnest attempts to comfort and sooth “this boy I love, calling for me to come out, into the buckthorn field of being awake”. 

This new work attempts to capture the dream-like haze of Campbell’s words which build into climactic moments of wakefulness, crying and soothing that leave us with the intimate, gentle musings between parent and child.

© 2023 Jay Capperauld

It's 1 a.m. and someone's knocking
at sleep's old, battered door - and who
could it be but this boy I love,
calling for me to come out, into
the buckthorn field of being awake -
and so I go, finding him there
no longer talking - but now crying
and crying, wanting to be held;
but shhh, what did you want to show
that couldn't wait until the morning?
Was it the moon - because I see it:
the first good bead on a one-bead string;
was it the quiet - because I owned it,
once - but found I wanted more.

© 2023 Niall Campbell