THE PEEPER

I

The beaming rays of morning,

and the scent of toasted bread

could not wipe his weary groaning

or lift the gloom above his head.

“Did you sleep sweet boy of mine,

or were you gaming on a school night?”

“ Mother, I was asleep after nine

but was awakened by a fright.”

“Dreams from horror games, no doubt ;

you should listen to mother’s caring.”

“Mother, the games I went without,

was no dream, just the Peeper staring.”

“A PEEPER!”

she blurted with her face steadily jerking.

“Where’s your father, he must be told,

for if some stranger is creepily lurking,

then your father will surely scold.”

“It's no person you see;

It's the watcher in the night.

It keeps me from the dark-sea

with eyes wide and bright.”

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II

To school he went with baggy eyes,

and she checked his room in scurry,

but her son told no lies

so she began to nag and worry.

No games were found at all,

so it must have been a thing he dreamed.

That night she told papa Paul.

A nightly terror he also deemed.

Next morning at the table ,

again he came with baggy eyes .

“Jay, were you unable

to slumber before sunrise?”

“Unsafe to sleep said the Peeper.

Only two hours would he permit,

for if I dozed any deeper,

I would be eaten by the pit.”

“This bet'not be a trick,

to keep from attending class;

this is worse than playing sick

or skipping school en masse.”

This is no trick dear mother.

No fibs have I told.

The Peeper is real like any other,

but grown-up sight does he withhold.”

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III

Later, on the third night,

Momma May and Papa Paul did convene.

She told of Jay’s plight

so Papa Paul would intervene.

With authority he would dictate

a solution she did deplore.

He said,

“It’s time we medicate;

get sleeping pills from the drawer.”

She saw no other way ,

and with reluctance she did submit;

when removing pills from tray

in flames, was her hand alit.

To aid his burning wife ,

Papa Paul shot up in spree,

but once he contained the strife

she suffered third degree.

He gathered family in the car ,

and to hospital made their way;

then with a voice bizarre

Jay said,

“She shouldn’t disobey.”

In rear mirror Papa Paul saw his only son,

and a foreboding fear silenced Papa's authoritative tongue.

His wife wept and decried, the highest holy one,

while Jay wagged his feet, playing cheerfully, and sung:

"The Peeper sees, the Peeper sees

all that’s under sun.

Below the seas and through the trees

until its work is done."

"Do not tease and please please please,

never block its way.

Cause the Peeper sees, the Peeper sees

and you should not disobey."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IV

While his wife was in doctor’s care,

Papa Paul sat with little Jay,

and asked who was this Peeper that gave them such a scare .

“A giant owl like in a barn,”

his son Jay did say.

“Three shining eyes does he possess

that keeps me awake at night.

They scatter away the darkness,

and guard me from the blight.”

“It can fly anywhere,

with six wings instead of two,

to other worlds or through the air,

and father... he now sits next to you."

The fourth day they awoke,

and Papa knew something wasn’t right.

His son Jay tried to cloak

his left hand from Papa's sight.

He demanded to see the hidden

before he got quite peeved,

and Jay did what was bidden,

showing his pinkie had been cleaved.

Mama May could take no more,

as she burst in dreadful tears

“Who’s done this to one I adore

and plagues us with fears.”

Papa Paul angrily queried,

“WHO DID THIS TO YOU JAY!”

and his boy said quite wearied,

“The Peeper took it away.”

“He said I wouldn’t need it,

and he needed a sacrifice;

any finger would be fit,

so my pinkie would suffice."

“That’s it, I am done,

this can no longer persist!

Harm has come to my only son;

I’m calling an exorcist!”

When the exorcist came;

he truly sanctified.

Aloud he called the Peeper’s name,

and banished it to the underside.

Now the Peeper could not see,

and his job wasn’t done,

so the demon horde were free

and possessed their only son.