The Monster Down The Hall
written by: roger turner
@titansdad
There was no one at the funeral
No one there to say goodbye
It took them two whole weeks to find him
No one knew that he had died
Set out in the countryside
A farm with lots of lands
He died there in his easy chair
It was just, but not as planned
We grew up there with no neighbors
Just a dad and his three girls
No one heard our screaming
In our pinies and our curls
THE MONSTER ISN’T IN THE ROOM
NOT IN THE CLOSET, NOR ‘NEATH THE BED
HE’S IN THE BEDROOM DOWN THE HALL
DAD’S THE MONSTER IN HIS STEAD
HE COMES TO MY ROOM IN THE NIGHT
AND DOES THINGS THAT DAD’S DON’T DO
HE TOUCHES ME WHERE HE SHOULD NOT
DID HE TOUCH THE OTHERS TOO?
It’s my task to clean out the house
To get rid of all that’s here
There are memories in every room
And nightmares too, I fear
The scent of Borkum Riff
Still hangs lightly in the air
I remember it as he lay down
It was in his clothes and hair
I can smell his aftershave cologne
In the living room, it lingers
I remember lying silently
As he probed me with his fingers
THE MONSTER ISN’T IN THE ROOM
NOT IN THE CLOSET, NOR ‘NEATH THE BED
HE’S IN THE BEDROOM DOWN THE HALL
DAD’S THE MONSTER IN HIS STEAD
HE COMES TO MY ROOM IN THE NIGHT
AND DOES THINGS THAT DAD’S DON’T DO
HE TOUCHES ME WHERE HE SHOULD NOT
DID HE TOUCH THE OTHERS TOO?
Boxes of old memories
To discard of and move out
I don’t want to take them with me
Not with the memories about
My bedroom, like the others
Sits unchanged throughout the years
There aren’t many smiles there
Just dirt amongst the tears
I wonder as I go outside
To get a break from all the smells
I know he’s not in heaven
My daddy’s down in hell
THE MONSTER ISN’T IN THE ROOM
NOT IN THE CLOSET, NOR ‘NEATH THE BED
HE’S IN THE BEDROOM DOWN THE HALL
DAD’S THE MONSTER IN HIS STEAD
HE COMES TO MY ROOM IN THE NIGHT
AND DOES THINGS THAT DAD’S DON’T DO
HE TOUCHES ME WHERE HE SHOULD NOT
DID HE TOUCH THE OTHERS TOO?
As time goes by knowing what I
Must do with this old place
I must obliterate it from my mind
And build a new house in its place
Five miles from the closest farm
All alone with none around
I can free myself from the nightmare
If I burn it to the ground
I call up both my sisters
Knowing what he did to me
He wouldn’t be selective
He did it to all three
THE MONSTER ISN’T IN THE ROOM
NOT IN THE CLOSET, NOR ‘NEATH THE BED
HE’S IN THE BEDROOM DOWN THE HALL
DAD’S THE MONSTER IN HIS STEAD
HE COMES TO MY ROOM IN THE NIGHT
AND DOES THINGS THAT DAD’S DON’T DO
HE TOUCHES ME WHERE HE SHOULD NOT
DID HE TOUCH THE OTHERS TOO?
Through arguments and logic
I lay out to them my plan
They tell me they will come home
They’ll be there when they can
The day arrives as do the girls
We start the plan out in the patch
We’ve each one can of gasoline
And we each have just one match
The house burns rather quickly
Oily smoke it fills the air
The only thing that’s missing
Is that the monster isn’t there.
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