Them

Who are they that we should fear them,
wish to kill them, can we list them?
They must hide were we can't find them
in old-wives' tales and urban legends,
inside books with pseudonyms.

Even though we've never seen them
still we think they should exist.
Someone must be human vermin.
Someone must be cheating us.
Someone must have stolen babies
from their cribs when we were gone.

Who are they that take our blame
for any crime that ever happened,
even some that that never happened.
Who are they, we've never seen them,
yet we've heard a hundred tales
of villainy that was their doing
dangerous and furtive sins.

But once, behind a fun-house mirror
grinning from the twisted glass
I saw a thing, perhaps one of them.
I saw a ghoul who looked like me.

Karen Tellefsen
kat2@mindspring.com

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