Lunacy

by Dan Dillard

  The Lie

  There's something underneath your bed,

  snaggle-toothed and rotten.

  Your parents say it isn't there,

  but they have just forgotten.

  Its mind is filled with dreadful thinks,

  its belly full of snakes.

  Your fear, it sips and gulps and drinks

  and waits for your mistakes.

  You'll grow and it will shrink in size,

  and wither from its stem.

  But soon enough you'll realize,

  it's underneath your children's beds

  and terrifying them.