Dusk seeps up through marshy ground

Gases bubble, a spooky sound

The owl swoops softly overhead

The bat flies from his foetid bed

But here is where I’d rather be

Not in the house where you haunt me.

The house looks warm and cosy though

Through the doorway I won’t go

Look through the window, you will see

A  kitchen homely as can be.

But I know better so I stay

Safe outside and  far away.

The night is long and I am cold

I could creep back inside the fold

But I know what is waiting there

In the cottage, on the stair.

I sleep curled up under a bush

I’ve no nightdress, comb or toothbrush

My clothes are damp and wet with dew

But better that than be with you.

And so I’m trapped here for all time

The house is yours, the garden mine

You never sleep, you’re always there

And I won’t enter, I don’t dare.

I hate you, ghost, and you hate me

And that’s for all eternity.