The monsters under our beds

Hiding in the closets

Are what we were taught to fear

Sleeping with our parents

Huddled under the blankets

Clutching a teddy bear for protection

We had been terrified

We were not told the most important

Thing about these monsters

They used to be just like us

They were taught to fear the monsters too

They slept with their parents

They huddled under the blankets

They had been terrified

Something happened down the road

The beauty and color in their life

Was torn out and replaced

The darkness filled the void

They became what we were taught to fear

What convinced us to sleep with our parents

What drove us to huddle under the blankets

What we had been terrified of

The monsters are not gone

Now that we have grown up we know

They merely changed their shape

We no longer sleep with our parents

No longer huddle under the blankets

No longer clutch a teddy bear for protection

But we are terrified all the same

Monsters used to be human

It is not they we should fear

For they were just like us

What we should be afraid of

Is the thing that created what used to

Make us sleep with our parents

Make us huddle under the blanket

Make us clutch a teddy bear for protection

Make us terrified