The Stranger

The stranger

 

A crack of lightning lit up her contorted old face,

As the pain of a thousand years stung like mace,

 

The pits and lines danced across weathered skin,

Like an ancient net containing the monster within,

 

The bedraggled hair as black as hell’s nights framed,

A greenish tinge to the face which cannot be named,

 

A threadbare cloak surrounded her hunched stance,

She pulled it tightly round to improve its performance,

 

She stood dripping with menace on the city’s outskirt,

Trying to understand the bus route till her brain hurt,

 

A muttered expletive emanated out in the heavy rain,

Then a finger click before a loud yell of crunching pain,

 

After the obligatory blinding flash and a puff of smoke,

A small bat rose into the night sky getting a cold soak,

 

It flitted over eery parks and lots of closed down bars,

Till it spotted a landing place between two parked cars,

 

After the smoke cleared revealing some dented bumpers,

The stranger had to make frogs from two men in jumpers,

 

They had seen too much of her big transformation spell,

But they would be happier in the rain and hopped off well,

 

The stranger was walking towards Leicester’s clock tower,

In the darkest hour of Halloween night boosting her power,

 

Getting to the shut up Marks and Spencer so empty of life,

The doors were no obstacle as she cut through like a knife,

 

This old lady knew exactly what she was looking for tonight,

Quick as a flash she found the fancy dress isle to the right,

 

Passed the devil horns and the frankenstein’s monster masks,

She arrived in front of the professional costume for her tasks,

 

A pointed hat with the most intricately calved sycamore broom,

But a drop of magic dust was needed to give the dress extra room,

 

Finally she was ready for tonight and looking her menacing best,

Now she strode outside to give her new transportation a test,

 

Her new broom suddenly began to float and she quickly mounted,

A single magic word and pesky gravity was very easily surmounted,

 

She was flying over Leicester’s landmarks at twice the speed of sound,

Casting spells on every house and all the people who were around,

 

After a few hours her strong Halloween magical powers were all spent,

So she left the city cackling leaving a few bumpers and M&S with a dent,

 

On November the first Leicester city’s population all woke up so late,

No one noticed until they looked at their reflections seeing their fate,

 

A shield of pure energy glinted across everyone’s mouth and nose,

Always there until it sensed food and drink then an opening arose,

 

Within a week the virus magically disappeared in this area of England,

Then another city full of people got shields each night as she planned,

 

By December the stranger was covering whole countries in a night,

She had saved Christmas from the very nasty corona virus blight,

 

So remember them magical shields everywhere you go and see,

They are a gift to all strangers from the stranger given us for free.