and now  the voices start

those grody sounds that stop your heart

 

beneath the floor, within the walls

the precedent for dull footfalls

 

calling to us one by one

with no clear sight of saint or villain

 

a spectral round of hide and seek

directed by a floorboards creak

 

each time we search there’s nothing there

but of this guest we’re so aware

 

was it here first? we cant be sure

it wasn’t brought  from distant shores

 

as never had it raised its head

until that gift from land of Vlad

 

was carried over our threshold

but did this herald something cold

 

the bearer of an ancient fear

something as of yet unclear

 

or are we merely in the thrall

of phantoms more explainable