That Squeaky Floorboard

That Squeaky Floorboard

That floorboard in my house

Squeaks like a mouse might squeak

If it reached a peak of excitement at

Knowing he was back in his home too

When I was a child sometimes wild and sometimes calm

I knew that when I hit that noise

I was close to playtime or to bedtime

Close to school time or to sleep

On Christmas morning we crept

Over the floorboard

My brother and I knew by rote

The route over the board

Downstairs we’d peek

Rattle presents then back upstairs we’d creep

Tucked up again, pretend to sleep

Has he been yet, ‘Go back to sleep’

Into my teens, the floorboard battered

It still popped up even though my father hammered

It down back into the ceiling

My mother jumped, her cries revealing

Love for my Dad, ‘What do you think you’re doing’

The laugh at the end stopped anyone from being fooled

At how after all these years

They still regarded each other with love

My brother and I sneaked back into the house

A night at the pub, keys rattling in the lock

Beer fumes rising up the stairs

Mum and Dad moving just a little

So we knew that they were there

They always were, they always shared

The lookout until we came home safe

We were nearly adults, but they never slept

And now the house is mine

And I’ve filled it back up with love

My children know the place where it squeaks

They dance around it, genetic radar

Now years on, my Mum and Dad aren’t here anymore

I’m the Dad now and keep an ear out

For my grown up kids coming back from a night out

To know they’ve crept or fallen into bed

To know they’re safe and

Sound carries in this house

Sometimes they’re noisy and sometimes they’re as quiet as

The mouse safe in his house