Goosebumps

In the dark of the wood lies a menacing foe,
Near railroad tracks just south of our home.
He stands ten geese tall, as any goslings knows,
And they don’t return who after him go.

Should ye desire a most frightening night,
Simply follow the pond south by moonlight,
Down to the stream, across the narrow bridge,
And ye’re like not to make it to the railroad ridge.

For there lives a goose meaner than I,
With whiter feathers and an eviler eye-
Yes, there lives a goose who stands taller than all,
And this is the goose I saw.

When I were but a gosling, plucky and dumb,
I shambled to the waterfall and there took a plunge.
I ran down hoping the creek would let out-
And reached that same area I ere spoke about.

Through the trees did I glimpse a being of myth,
A children’s ghost story, alive in the flesh.
He drew near, cracking twigs, inspiring much fear-
I cried for my mother, if only to get me out of there.

I hid as it neared in a cluster of stumps,
I had what a human may call “goosebumps,”
And thus came the name of this fear-sparking foe:
The giant mesonoxian Goosebumps all geese know.