The Thing in the Woods

by Loris John Fazio

A thing that eats children

roams free in those woods;

you and I better not go.

It sneaks out like an eel

and it grabs at your heel —

trust me, my gran told me so.

Caroline Dumphrey went in there last year,

along with her five-year-old sister.

They told her to stay safe and never go near...

if only she'd listened, oh the poor dear!

They searched for the girls

for two nights and three days;

on the third day Carol was found;

as white as a sheet,

with shaky hands and bare feet,

since then she has not uttered a sound.

And Carol was the lucky one,

although she did go mute:

her sister, poor lamb, left no trace;

the thing, my friend, is astute.

And what of little Michael, then?

Nearby he used to play:

and hide and seek was the game he played

on that cold and foggy day.

But when the fog's so thick, my friend,

nobody on Earth can see

how deep they've gone into the woods,

not you or him or me.

And once you've ventured out too far

your way back you might not find;

or else, you might come face to face

with things that hate mankind;

things that live in nightmares

and to shadows are confined;

things that stalk you in the dark

and small bones like to grind;

things that cause the madman's shrieks,

that shock and twist the mind;

things that wait to prey on the weak,

the ones that drop behind.

God only knows what Michael saw

among those scheming trees,

but his friend told me what he found

when the fog ran away with the breeze;

and when he realized what it was,

his bladder unloaded with fear:

a pinkish thing on a blood-soaked scarf,

poor Michael's severed ear.

And then, of course, bits and pieces of gut

on grass and moss splayed out;

the stench still lingers to this day

in that fiendish place, no doubt.

So please don't flip that coin, my friend,

for my mind I've well made up:

I wish to see my gran again

and with my parents sup.

But there's a fire in your eyes

like a thousand burning skies;

to you it's all a game,

you tremble not at Satan's name.

You will answer twilight's call,

siren of many a downfall.

Please, my friend, oh please don't go!

Why must you torment me so?

But off you go and here I stay;

and for your soul tonight I pray.

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