Just In Case Poem by Diana van den Berg

Just in case
the messages are
a warning
that I am about
to be murdered
or raped
or shot
or knifed
or assaulted in some way
or even just burgled,
I just wanted to say
either a permanent
or a temporary
goodbye,
whichever is appropriate,
depending
on the outcome.

However, if he/they
wanted to do any of those things
it doesn’t make sense to
warn me
on
Tuesday
and
Friday
by leaving and moving objects
to show clearly
without any shadow of a doubt
that “you” were here
and that you want me to know
and thus allow me
to take the necessary precautions!

If they are trying to frighten me
they have succeeded
only a tiny bit
and they have done
their souls
a great disservice.

What gets my poor little goat
more than the little niggling fear,
and especially as
to the best of my knowledge,
I haven’t annoyed anyone recently,
is the unsolved mystery
of WHO and WHY!

(29 April 2011)