Towards The Twilight Zone! Poem by Denis Martindale

I remember the time that I visited Wales with my brother
when we wandered the local area together.
The sunshine faded quickly, and then twilight fell.
We had to head back to where we were staying.
Thankfully, we had not wandered miles away
that we could have forgotten the way home.

But a short while later,
the time took us beyond the fading twilight.
We had to walk in the darkness,
and the street lights were few and far between.
Then we heard strange and unnerving sounds above us.
Were these sounds from birds or bats?
It was typical that thoughts of vampires came to mind.

Home is where the heart is,
so we kept walking until we arrived safely.
I told the people there about how odd the sounds were.
They smiled but said nothing more about it
because we were teenagers and city folk
who knew nothing about country living.
Though I am now living in England,
I remember it all decades later.

Even so, in the last few years,
my neighbour's house was visited by bats.
One morning, I heard strange sounds outside.
I investigated and saw the bats flying above me.
They were swooping around between our houses
and then entering the neighbour's attic.
Fortunately, my neighbours were aware of the visitors.
Eventually, the bats went somewhere else.
So that's something to be thankful for!

Denis Martindale, for the 28th of January 2024.