Sleepsong

What if it isn't the wind, my dear?
What if that shadow's no tree?
Who is out there if the step on the stair
Is neither your father nor me?

What if the doors are not locked, my pet?
What if the windows are wide?
What if the creepers and snatchers of sleepers
Are gradually seeping inside?

What if they're real and they're reaching inside now?
But yet! More frightening by far
Than the thought you may not be imagining this
Is the prospect that maybe you are.

Hide yourself under the covers, my child
Lock them up tight in your dreams
Sew up your dread in invisible thread
And pray no-one unpicks the seams.