Adults Only (Poetry)

There’s a demon in the cupboard
but we mustn’t tell the kids
we’re bound to keep that awful secret
because ignorance is bliss

So we’ll tell them fairy stories
when reality’s too grim
trolling out the same old nonsense
even though the lies wear thin

We’ll use all the same excuses
our deceit’s ‘for their own good’
and invent some explanation
when a stroppy teenage mood

forces certain awkward issues
putting parents on the spot
with uncompromising questions
that forbid more tommyrot

Once they reach that magic number
quaintly termed ‘age of consent’
protective veils dissolve like sea mist
hence new rules of play present

Now old enough to know the secret
Truth reveals the chilling shock —
their world’s full of evil monsters
childhood’s demon picked the lock.