Intruder by Michael Healy

The World is not always what it seems

It’s 4am in the morning

And I heard a definite knock

It’s coming from the far bedroom

Yet the outside doors are all locked!

There is no one in the house but me,

Yet something is stirring, how can this be?

 

Sleep’s veil from my eyes has fallen,

My head spins round and around

My ears, pricked, are listening intently

For that unknown, unwelcomed sound.

What can be inside our castle, our home?

Do they know I’m here by myself all alone

 

I slide from my warm bed and safety

My feet touch the soft carpet floor,

Standing I walk forward slowly

Cautiously feel for the door.

The handle turns down, the floor gives a creak,

The door eases open to the sound that I seek.

 

Dawn’s glow lights up the landing

The way is now clear ahead.

I would much rather turn on my heels

And dive back inside my warm bed.

‘Knock, knock’ again, there now I am sure

Something unwelcome lies behind that far door.

 

Slowly each step takes me nearer

To that hammering’s worrying source,

Will I be up to the task?

Will I have to use force?

That knocking is there again, ‘one-two’, ‘one-two’!

Should I arm myself? What should I do?

 

The hairs on my neck start to tingle

I am ready to take up the fight,

Standing my ground manfully,

Protecting my castle, my right!

The knock goes again and this time so LOUD,

Not one intruder, it must be a crowd.

 

The slightest creak sounds like thunder

As gently each foot meets the floor,

Too late to go back on my actions

I’m standing right up to the door –

My hand grips the handle and twists it right down,

I fly the door open in search of that sound!

 

And there he is standing before me,

The evil that shattered my sleep,

Incarnate a menacing presence

In black from its head to his feet

Attacking the ledge of the window alone,

Steely beaked stabs of Corvus Carone Carone!

 

So my sleeping dreams have been shattered,

And my heart made to force the bloods flow.

And the cause of this night’s consternations?

No more than an angry wild crow!

 

Michael Healy