IT FELL ON DEAF EARS

IT FELL ON DEAF EARS

The first sign came at half past four,
Three scratches on the butcher shop door.
The second came when every hound,
Crept underneath and made no sound.

Old Annie stood beside the well,
And said she knew that rotten smell.
The Gobbler wakes beneath the ground,
And hungry things will follow sound.

They laughed and told her she was old,
And blamed her shaking on the cold.
They rang the bell and bought their beers,
Her warning fell on deaf ears.

She brought a stick as thick as bone,
And struck it hard against the stone.
Go home before the light grows thin,
And bolt your doors, and stay within.

But children dared each other near,
The broken gate she said to fear.
Their fathers watched and called it play,
Then kicked her warning signs away.

At dusk the well began to breathe,
And something scraped the stones beneath.
A bucket rose without its chain,
Then slowly slipped below again.

They gathered round to have a look,
One held a lamp, one held a hook.
A voice came floating from below,
So like a child they used to know.

Old Annie shouted, Leave it be,
That thing knows more than you or me.
But one man bent above the stones,
And heard it whisper through its groans.

The mouth came first, a dripping grin,
Then fingers pulled the lamplight in.
It swallowed him before his cry,
Could reach the people standing by.

By dawn no footsteps crossed the square,
Just Annie and her stick stood there.
From down the well came all their fears,
At last a warning reached their ears.