Alarm Raised

Last time Alarm came screaming through my home
It shook the house close to disaster;
Killed some kids in the family
And wound up my heart to beat faster.

This time it sneaked in like a thief:
Ghostly and totally unheard;
Flashed like daylight lightning,
Flapped like a frightened bird.

Caught me playing out some social fantasy,
Wound up in other people's history,
Woven blindly into human tapestry,
Proud and vain and drenched in glory.

Cursed me with a scream which froze my blood,
Squeezed my heart till it burst upon a beat;
Fleeced my mind like I knew it one day would,
Pawed my soul like a piece of long-dead meat.

Next time, Alarm sits grinning in my chair,
Throws back its head and howls with despair:
'Silence and Space' - mask falls from its face,
Implodes like a light-bulb, gone without trace.

Alarm erased.