The House Near the Park

Brooding, unlit and unkempt A house that is daylight exempt Sits three doors down from the park Its doors and its windows are dark Weekly a grocer arrives Drops off a bag of supplies The door opens not very wide A hand pulls the shopping inside Neighbours still say tongue in cheek That’s the highlight of the week It’s what happens once every year That fills local children with fear It shuffles out onto the street With Wellington boots on its feet A wizened old thing with a stoop Its head doesn’t raise from a droop It makes an incongruous sight As it strolls looking not left nor right In clothes dirty brown, who would think It would tote a small coat that is pink And just as the street lamps alight Portending the coming of night ’tis said that he walks in the dark To grab a young kid in the park * And then at the lake his step doesn't break He simply walks into the water And as it gets colder the coat on his shoulder He wraps ’round his long missing daughter * A brief but chilled wind whispers, ‘Daisy’ The lake’s surface mist rises hazy The breeze hums along to a young girl’s song But the old man and young girl are gone Emerging from behind a hedge Kids hurry up to the edge The bravest one reaches to take A little pink coat from the lake *** It’s what happens once every year That fills local children with fear It shuffles out onto the street With Wellington boots on its feet _____ [Wellington boots = Rubber boots]