Ignorance Is Bliss

Ignorance Is Bliss

Down in the forest

In the deep dark wood

A lonely house

Has always stood

The door is locked

The windows so dark

Its general feeling

Was one so stark

Who once lived here

In this lonely place?

And why have we never

Seen their face?

In the little village

The stories are rife

‘It’s true’ they say

‘I swear on my life!’

‘Ghosts and creatures

Monsters galore!’

All the villages chanted

‘More, more, more!’

‘it was a young lady

So pretty to see

But one day this lady

Was stung by a bee!’

‘It was a knight

Who walked by the lake

He ate stinging nettles

What a mistake!’

‘it was a witch

Who had a huge cat

One day her pet

Mistook her for a rat’

‘Stop it, stop it

I know what’s true

There was an old lady

Who died of the flu

‘Pah, Pah, Pah

What a tall tale

The person who died

Was decidedly male

A mean old man

Who lived alone

One day took a fall

Banged his head on a stone’

‘It was a butcher

And his gentle wife

But one foul day

he took her life

‘No, no!’ Another man said

‘That story is fake

In there lies a vampire

Through its heart a stake!’

On and one

They would tell a story

Each getting more

Disgustingly gory

The truth it seems

Is simpler than most

In that house

Unlives a family of ghosts

It was this family

That caused so much dread

There was just one problem

…They didn’t know they were dead

This ghostly family

Went about their day

Never quite understanding

Why people stayed away

They had lived in that house

For hundreds of years

Never knowing they were the cause

Of so many fears

The parents, a daughter

And two little boys

A house full of love

And so many joys

It happened so

Long ago you see

They’d forgotten,

This poor family

One day the youngest child awoke

‘Mummy Ive got such a sore throat’

His mother gave him milk

Fresh from their goat

But all day long

The child got sicker

The pain in his throat

Growing thicker and thicker

An illness had infected

Their young child

Spreading through the home

Growing so wild

That poor little boy

His fever so high

Before the sun set

That child would die

The cries leapt into the night

The family wept so many tears

The loss of their child

Answered all their fears

Before they could bury

Their young son

This wild sickness

Claimed another one

Their little daughter

So gently, so kind

But soon her heartbeat

Could not been found

Then their last child

Went to sleep in his bed

But in the morning

This boy was dead

The parents, their hearts

Were broken in two

They just didn’t know

What they could do

It was not even

One single, whole day

Before their lives

Were stolen away

And in this house

Their bodies all lay

Until the boy’s spirits

Got up to play

‘Mama! Papa!

And sister too

Wake up so we

Can play with you!’

The spirits all

Rose from their bed

And outside to play

The children led

They played and laughed

And had fun the most

Never ever realising

Each one was a ghost

The father did his work

The mother baked her break

The fact they were spirits

Never entered their head

The family went to town

Walking through the wood

But the villagers walked past

Where this family stood

No ‘Hello, good morning’

No ‘How do you do?

No ‘Welcome Back!’

Not even ‘How are you?’

The family was shocked

To be treated so sorely

How could their neighbours

Act so poorly?

Papa tried to talk

To friends far and near

But they all acted

Like he wasn’t here

‘Come on my family

Welcome we are not!

Back to our home

This village can rot!’

And since that day

They have stayed in the house

No one goes near them

Not even a mouse

But a more loving family

You never did see

They might be dead

But they are so happy

The parents work

They children play

Happy to be together

Every day

They will never age

Never grow old

Never burn in the heat

Never freeze in the cold

Always together

This family will stay

In loving harmony

Every single day

And if you should ever

Come across this home

Do the right thing

And leave them alone

Please creep away

Please leave them be

Ignorance is bliss

For this dead family.