Who Dares?

A creepy house with spindly towers
Lurked on a windy hill.
The walls inside were black as coal,
The rooms were dank and chill.
A sign hung from the rusty gates,
With writing bloody red,
And oh! what terror stalked its lines,
For this is what it said –

Don’t go through the door!
Don’t climb up the stairs!
There’s ghosts and zombies and poltergeist
To catch you unawares!

The window frames held broken glass,
Storm-battered were the shutters,
And slimy little swampy things
Crawled in and out the gutters.
The children of the neighbourhood
Fled by with hurried tread,
And warned each other constantly
In whispers soft with dread –

Don’t go through the door!
Don’t climb up the stairs!
There’s ghosts and zombies and poltergeist
To catch you unawares!

But then, one day, a girl appeared:
“I’m not afraid,” she cried.
“I’ll spend the whole night in the house,”
And lo! she stepped inside.
The children gasped with horror,
As she disappeared from view,
And as one voice they called to her
The warning they all knew:

Don’t go through the door!
Don’t climb up the stairs!
There’s ghosts and zombies and poltergeist
To catch you unawares!

Next morning to the creepy house,
The village children came,
But found to their astonishment,
No single stone remained.
And nothing but a garden wild
Stood on that windy hill.
As for the girl, she’d disappeared,
Alas, she’s missing still!
But yet, upon a stormy night,
When passing by that way,
If people listen carefully,
They hear a girl’s voice say,

Don’t go through the door!
Don’t climb up the stairs!
There’s ghosts and zombies and poltergeist
To catch you unawares!