SOUNDS FROM THE FIREPLACE

I’m the only one who hears it. Am I losing my mind, or is it real,

Whatever this is appears most quiet when others are around.

How can this be? I’m afraid that it knows only of me,

Maybe these sounds are just for my ears alone, scared in my home.

I’m afraid to even sit there on my couch as I stare over there,

There’s something inside the fireplace, movement in the dark.

A part of me wants to go look, to see what it really is, but the fear,

I can hear something whispering, horrible things it or they say to me.

Laughter of an evil kind as it terrifies me and torments my mind,

Where they come from or why they’re even here is a nightmare.

The fear in me is known by them; what are they, what do they look like,

No one for me to tell, as they will think I’m a crazy person or sick.

Sounds from the fireplace are for only me, as from inside, silent screams,

It never stops, and slowly I am lost inside, fading away from reality.

        Keith Garrett