Help me! I’m imprisoned
Imprisoned in my head
Help me find an escape
From this gruesome dread
For years I felt that I
Had power o’er my mind
Boy oh boy was I wrong
Fool of the highest kind
All I see is darkness
Enveloping me
No walls or ground or sky
Nothing I can see
Could anybody save me?
Family or friend?
I ask myself tonight
Will this torture ever end?
When you wake up
You should know
The whole night
I held your hand
The whole night
I counted your breaths
The whole night
I watched over you
And tomorrow
I’ll do it again
No I’m not
A psychopath
Or maybe I am
Little girls and little boys
Are more fun than all the toys
All they need is a sweet
They come running with their feet
I take them to my humble home
Where no adult’s allowed to come
That’s when all the fun begins
Their tears and cries, my evil grins
Take a giant black cauldron
Lit up with Hell’s fire
Then pour in cane toads’ poison
To your heart’s desire
Take the skin of a rattlesnake
Dipped in a lion’s blood
Next a mollusc you will take
Straight from your garden’s mud
Next will go a raven’s wing
Finely-chopped geckos’ tails
Then on top of everything
You add a bunch of snails
Mix them up at midnight
Stir them to a stink
When the pot turns green and bright
You’ll have the devil’s drink
Deep within this gloomy forest
Where no local or a tourist
Has dared to step or penetrate
Lives a ghost of Annie Plait
Hard to tell if it’s a rumour
That she was born with a tumour
It was her parents’ best belief
To kill her would be a great relief
When the day turned dark and mellow
They smothered her with a pillow
Not once did her parents hesitate
To kill the newborn Annie Plait
No remorse, no heart to mourn her
In this woods they found a corner
Dropped her corpse in a grave unclean
Then dashed back to their day routine
Every night the moon be seen
Cries are heard from deep within
Some claim they saw her levitate
The ghost of hapless Annie Plait
The moon is up and full and glistening
Quiet now! The winds are listening
Though some fools love adventure
Be careful now how far you venture
Tread with care and extreme caution
The night is mixed with dreary portion
Your courage is, you’ll find, inadequate
When you see the ghost of Annie Plait
Night is cold and night is wicked
The sun’s some songs away
The winds clack against the window
We’ve been asked to sit and play
We can’t go outside
Our playground’s occupied
By the zombies since Monday
If they ever see us breathing
They would come for our young flesh
I have also heard a story
That they ate my friends oh yes
Afraid to the core
Of opening the front door
Lest I end up in their stash
Hiding under my blanket
I can hear their howls and cries
Trying to sleep without anxiety
Unsuccessful tries
If they eat each other
Spare me and my mother
Wouldn’t that just feel so nice?
On a night dark and bleak
I buried the control-freak
If somebody should ask you
We’re playing Hide and Seek
I believe that clouds are not
Made of water-drops or ice
But they look a lot
Like a chameleon’s eyes
Like the ghastly creature
Changing colours at will
Clouds too share that feature
With an even greater skill
In the morn’ they’re soft and white
But that is just deceit
In the dark of night
They come to trick or treat
All night they rumble on
A watch on me they keep
That’s how my dread is born
That’s how I lose my sleep
Someday I think I’ll grow
Tall and strong and brave
For my lunch they’ll know
No other thing I have
I’ll gobble up and eat
Every cloud that I can see
So every child I meet
Will profusely thank me
Like a silent snake
I slither, slither, slither
No, I did not sting
I slit her, slit her, slit her
I look up at the stars and think
Are these the masters of my fate?
Do they command the life of men?
Their concealed plan we must await?
Do I hold power over my self?
Over my destiny or act?
Have they predetermined my course?
Bound my will by a contract?
Am I trying to find comfort?
Escape the griefs of this life?
What answers do I give my kids
And my lovely luckless wife?
For she lies bloodied in the yard
A victim of my angry state
And the kids beside her lay
Breathing the end of their fate
O’ stars o’ stars up in the sky
Look what you have made me do
You filled my hands with blazing rage
My tender heart my body too
Now your work is done I guess
Not a single ray of light
You throw to warm their icy skin
In this dark ghastly night
Now tell me what the future holds
For me; where should I go?
Should I surrender myself?
Should I run? I do not know
For no court or law of men
Will hold you guilty for this deed
No fingers pointed at you but
My execution’s guaranteed
Frank Solanki 