The Bogeyman

When I was a child, the Bogeyman
Lived in our water tank,
He’d grumble and rumble and growl all night,
I had my sister to thank,
She told me about his giant claws
And the great big teeth he had,
If I couldn’t get to the foot of the stairs
He’d be hot on my heels – How sad!

The tank sat next to the toilet seat
In a cupboard, close to a hatch,
It used to spring open and freak me out,
There was something wrong with the catch,
I’d pull on the rusted, clanking chain
And head for the landing, stairs,
If the water had stopped, before I dropped
The Bogeyman would be there!

He was only a second behind me then,
A second of terrors and fears,
The monster that lived in my sister’s brain
Has followed me, all these years,
I never could tell my Mother, or Dad,
They never would understand,
My sister said, in a voice of dread –
‘Only kids know the Bogeyman! ‘

We live in a world of monsters, who
Are waiting to gobble us up,
They follow behind, one second in time,
That second is all that we’ve got!
They pick off the stragglers, one by one,
They trip us and tear us apart,
If you’re old or lame, take your eye from the game,
The monsters will rip out your heart!

So when I heard the Horologists
Were planning to hold back time,
I knew that we were in trouble then:
‘Just a second, ‘ they said, ‘It’s fine! ‘
‘The earth has wobbled and lost just one,
It takes just one to adjust…’
I hid that night in the attic’s height
At the top of the stairs, and cursed!

The whole world wide has been thrust aside
By some atavistic past,
Where the monsters roam outside your home,
And the victims scream when attacked,
I sit and wait for the hand of fate
To rattle my own life’s plan,
And steady the gun, ahead of the run
Down the stairs, with the Bogeyman!