Blinded

Love thy neighbour, or so they say,

Peering behind curtains every day.

He’s just an old man with a taste for mechanics,

He’ll tell you that you’re just being overdramatic.

The neighbourhood knew him as a subdued quiet man,

He paid close attention to the baby in that pram.

Bringing people together when they were alone,

Told teenagers to watch their backs when texting on their phones.

An odd sort of fellow people would say,

Always in his shed tinkering all day.

No one suspected what he did at nightfall,

He’d whisper, they’d shudder, they were so very small.

He’d swear to their parents he hadn’t seen a thing,

Even when he ripped off their plastic rings.

Behind the facade of this bumbling man,

Was a personality much darker. Catch him if you can.

For decades and decades, he’s always been known,

As this humble little man with a kind humble soul.

Secrets are hidden when he knows what is wrong,

They waited for years, so much it prolonged.

Eventually they found what was hidden in that shed,

Metal pieces, bolts and tools hidden along with the dead.

His mask peeling off, reality comes to light,

Now he shivers in a prison cell scared with fright.