My, oh My.

Hush a bye baby,
No sound at all,
The men of the Hollows
Are outside the front door.
Their feet are stark naked
They haven’t been fed
They've hands tough
As old boots
And their eyes are quite dead.

Hush a bye baby,
Hold onto your tears,
Their very best tea
Is the sound of your fears,
They’ve round bloated bellies
Starved up for a feast,
Their ribs jingle like chime bars
And so,
Do their teeth.

But Grandma, oh Grandma,
This cannot be true,
I’ve heard they like cheese from the fridge
And lemonade too,
Look!
I picked them some flowers
And wrote them a song,
I drew for them rainbows and moonbeams
Princesses and snow queens,
Bears, puppies and catkins,
Because I thought it’d be nice
If we all got along.

Oh silly old pop-tart,
What’s up with your head?
The Hollows’ concern
Is that they get fed!
But lemons won’t sate them
Nor cheddar nor brie,
Your obstinance though
Will stuff em nicely.
Now hush my fair baby
For what’s that I hear?
The creak of a gate?
The moan of a stair
Hush a bye,
Hush a bye,
Don’t make a squeak!
The Hollow man’s
Favourite hobby’s to eat!

But Grandma, oh Grandma,
Your words make me tremble,
I simply cannot believe these aren’t
Reasonable people!
See! I made one some shoes
From an old cardboard box
And another some socks
From a pot of off cuts.
Besides, I left them a note
The last they were here
Asked if they liked cream cakes
And sherbet
And lollipops and chocolate and!
Most of all,
If they wanted my friendship.
For surely any of that’s nicer than
Feeding off fear?

My sweet pomegranate,
They’ve no place for all that,
These brutes are brittle as slate
Yet harder than steel
If you keep up that chat
You’ll be their next meal!
It won’t be at all fun
They thrive off sweet hearts,
They’ll stuff ‘emselves silly
With your scaredy-cat parts.
Now close your young mouth,
Lay down on the bed.
If you don’t say a word,
They can’t enter your head.

Grandma, oh Grandma,
I love you, I do,
But what if I said
I believe your words not to be true?
Might they not like a teddy
To cuddle at night?
Or hot coco to sup
Round a fire at midnight?
And!
Did it ever strike you that
Perhaps they got hurt?
And tis not hatred but grief
Fuels their miserable urge?

Oh such a sweet sausage!
So much learning to do,
That the world’s full of these bugger’s
A verifiable truth!
Best always keep still
And not say a word
Don’t make any scenes
In case you’re misheard,
Society’s construct will tick like a clock
If we know our own place,
Our own little slot
Tick-tock, tick-tock
The Hollow men’s feet!
Now keep your mouth closed.
Tick-tock, tick-tock,
They’re out in the street!

Now Grandma, please,
No!
I hear you, I hear you,
But I’m not afraid,
Your hands are strong
And you love me,
I know I’ll be safe.
I’ve got youth on my side
And faith in my heart
I’ve nothing to fear at all
Apart…
From…
Grandma, oh Grandma?
Yes dear? Hello.
My, oh my!
Your eyes look unusually big today…
Did you know?
Well…
And Grandma, oh Grandma?
What’s up cup-cake fairy?
Are you a hipster?
Your ears are quite hairy.
Ah you see…
And Grandma? Oh Grandma?
What might it be haribo?
Are pointy dentures cool too?
CHOMP.
No.
Well, well.
I did try to warn you:
Grandma’s stories were true.