For a minute

For a minute

there was a strange noise

outside my door

late last night

in the middle

when it is too late and too early

all at the same time.

I didn't really know

what to make of the noise

scratching

was it a mouse sneaking back

to that corner in the closet

where it was banned so well

so long ago?

or was it the night pipes

singing the building song

of creak the heat is on

or croak the heat is off

but no this night noise

was not one of the old guys

saying hello

it was fresh

and i knew not what

or from where it came

fright seized me

in every limb and timbre

I looked at the bird

swinging wildly in the cage,

I wondered if the kids

were tossing unawares

in their beds

not knowing or awake

but sensing

in that primal sense

that screams loud

even when nothing is being said.

no

the kids breathed easy

they did not hear

nothing stirred.

With trepidation

I approached the door

the peephole

still and small

and squinted my eye down

so hard and  tight

as to squeeze a vision

into my brain

and there,

there in the corner of the hall

the dark hall with mid late night light

mere shadows appeared

of specters

I saw them

dark in black hats

and capes

running screeching down the corridor

immunoglobulins!

Immediately I thought of you

and dialed

911