Words Have Power

Even when written in the past, words still have the power to thrill and kill.

Dark, dingy full of silent screams
On the outskirts of town
There is a house with broken dreams
They soon will tear it down.

Secret daughter erased with time
No memory or trace
Buried deep in a well to climb
Light never seeing her face

She hung herself with her own hair
Before they could claim her
They left her alone cold and bare
Scary stories linger

Sarah's room down dungeon deep
Hidden behind a wall
Stairs that lead into nightmare creep
Brace yourself and don't fall.

Told stories deep within the walls
Children asked to hear tales
Never knowing it was their falls
That ended their lives in wails.



Line count = 20.


Notes ▶︎

Written for "13 Poetic Days of Halloween Contest 2025" 
Day 1 Ballad
A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter but most frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends. They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing and, while sometimes varied in practice, are generally written in ballad meter, i.e., alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming.

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/ballad.html

Topic--- André Øvredal’s spooky adaptation of Alvin Schwartz’s beloved children’s book series begins on a fateful Halloween night in 1968 when three friends discover a cursed storybook. movie- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
20 lines max.