By daylight, I love the outdoors garden-heart
at the center of this vast house, but after dark
even the bedrooms
are scary.
Bernarda’s old mother tells stories of horror.
Serapia and Goyo share ghostly tales too.
Owls rustle and call from up above on the roof.
Mice scurry
from corner
to corner
like four-footed
messengers
of terror.
If only I could forget Mamá’s disappearance.
It would be so much easier to fall asleep
peacefully.