"Mama the Kettle"

"Mamma the kettle's singing!"
"Hush child let it cry it's ringing."
There are tears raining in the courtyard
out back a piece of the roof is charred

The kettle whistles a sad tune
Knowing what's been and what's soon.
and mama teaching the kids how to hide.
...down low... near a window... eyes at every side.

"Hush children it'll be better tomorrow,
Hush ‘cause you know it will. There's money to borrow
Fortune to spend. Hush children
If he hears you, that's the sin."

Locks are to lock the lockable away.
But when locks fail in being locks
they're not locked; and being then, unlocked as so
Locks are moved and locks are shifted
Because now the locks are no longer fitted.

"Mama there's noise
Mama he's there."
"Hush child, I'd see their poise
We'll stay, if it's for nightmares you care
But then there's no one there."

The boy is remembering and listening
Remembering the creak of the window ring
Shadows coming from the bathroom
Mama used to know them as a groom.

"Mama it's the kettle it's not singing anymore."
"Hush child, sleep, we're under the floor,
If he finds us here tonight, if we are caught
Then he's more cleaver then I thought."

When he was there it was fear
Even when the kettle song sang clear
The boy is remembering as he dreams
Of those wicked nights and curdling screams.

"Mama, I'm scared, do you think he's there?
Or is it just brother trying to scare?
Mama, I don't understand what is going on."
After that there was silence, tempers withdrawn.

The girl is huddled under linen sheets
Trying to dream of unicorns and sweets
He was here before he said he'd come back.
What if brother was on the right track?

"Hush children don't you know,
We made sure to lock the window
Hush darling tonight's the night
When mama starts to put up a fight."

At morning Mama goes and mama shows
No matter how much the darkness bellows
That the dark is just as silent
As the kettle, soft and pliant.