' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' The Lightbulb Sneezed! (For Onelia) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

The lightbulb
sneezed.

“Fsssttt! ”
it said.

Then “Fsssttt! ”
again.

And then
went out

like a...like a
light!

Dark flooded
the place

and the colours
vanished.

The colours
(I suppose)
were still there.

The yellow as butter
book.

The golden honey &
red bedspread.

But they had hid
themselves away

(as well as their shapes)

in the silence
of the dark.

Maybe the world
had run away.


I couldn’t even see
parts of me.

Only thoughts
seemed to exist.

I bumped into
a bit of hard darkness.

Pain brought my knee
back to me.

I could feel I was still
kinda real.

The silence
screamed loudly.

“I’m not afraid...I’m not afraid...I’m not afraid
...I’m SCARED! ”

It was like a nightmare
come alive.

Being 5 isn’t all
it’s cracked up to be!

“Help me! ”
I shouted wordlessly.

Suddenly the silence
filled up with footsteps

stuffing the dark
with sound.

My Dad’s breathy rasp
lovely with laughter.

His torchlight
cutting like a hero

through the depths
of the darkness

showing an every now & then
picture of a

frightened teddy bear
(sucking its thumb)

a terrified dolly
(stifling a sob)

an evil armchair
reaching out to

before through them
back into the dark.




My father’s smile
lighting everything up.



“Were you afraid...my little fellow! ”



“Wot? Me? No! Never! ”