Tonight I Will Not Close My Eyes

 

We have monsters in our house.

 

A man came today to spray them away.

I’m sure I heard the monsters laugh.

 

Right now they are feasting on walls and doors.

They’re gnawing and boring under the floors.

 

I am ten and in bed and they’re in my head.

 

Nibbling and wriggling,

ever closer to me.

 

We won’t ever leave while there’s still more to chew.

We’ll eat all the wood and then eat you!

 

Dianne Bates

Dianne says: When I was a child living in the country, our home was demolished around as we continued to live in it. This is because the house was full of white-ants. I used to lie in bed thinking that the ants would eat me during

the night if I went to sleep. I was probably about 12 at the time. This poem

reflects my anxiety back then