And Still Inside They Live And Die

No playground howl, no nascent sound

Had blessed that house in Castletown

Not since the fire of ‘55

Had those walls heard a child alive

When Bobby, born in gin and spite

Would never grow to share delight

Or laugh and fight over toys and sweets

Or play outside in sooty streets

Future couples had no chance

In that house of fevered song and dance

For although it had been reconstructed

Alas, it stayed evermore corrupted

They could not see but Bobby crawled

Upstairs downstairs indeed he bawled

‘I want a friend,’ the phantom bark

‘A tiny living counterpart

To laugh and bicker alongside

As loneliness has now prescribed’

‘We can’t conceive,’ the couples cried

It’s true that many tried and tried

And Bobby, well, he did not know

That relationships might cease to grow

A theory goes the house was cursed

Long before its plausible worst

And most concede wee Bobby’s need

Disturbed the traditional target seed

But then one day a pair appeared

The husband had a satanic beard

Mr and Mrs Miller on stage

(who’d apparently hung with Jimmy Page)

These two were absolutely bent

On producing their own little gent

And sought the service of a local witch

Mrs Debra Radovic

Who donated a spell for making babies

In exchange for whiskey, rum, and baileys

Wee Bobby saw their affectation

Yet gladly welcomed the incantation

For all he wanted was a little friend

Someone who could comprehend

Amon they named him, a beautiful boy

Who the Millers immediately deployed

To bring with luck to boundless rights

Bobby the tiresome poltergeist

 It worked, it seemed, oh like a charm

For gradually Bobby was disarmed

As all his dreams they did come true

Laughing and bickering through and through

Best friends forever, they did become

Though that never lasts for anyone

And eventually Bobby’s spirit drifted

And the curse it seemed to have been lifted

Though some in town would remark

That curse was indelible, a birthmark

Especially as Amon later failed

At school, in politics, wound up in jail

For property scandals, bribes and rates

Yes, he fathered some ghost estates

Yet for all the empty homes around

That house still exists on Castletown

And still inside they live and die

And live and die and live and die

And live and die

And live and die and live and die

And live and die

And live and die and live and die

And live and die

And live and die

And live and die

And live and

Die

And live and

Die and

Live and die and live and die

And live

And die and

Live and

Die

And

Live

And die and

Live and die

And live

And die and

Live and

Die

And

Live