It’s just around the corner

If you keep very still, you can hear it
Its breathing is shallow and faint.
It sounds very small
Just around the next wall
But I’m told that it definitely ain’t.

There are many who gallantly jeer it
With the carefree abandon of youth.
But you’re right to be wary,
It can be quite scary
When you’re a bit long in the tooth.

The advice is – you shouldn’t go near it,
But no-one can alter their fate.
Although you go running,
Its devilish cunning
And will always be lying in wait.

It doesn’t have much to endear it,
It’s horrible in the extreme.
Its ugly, its hideous,
Its sly and invidious,
As if you are in a bad dream.

If it was a bear, you could spear it,
And its plans would be terminally wrecked,
But its hide is so thick,
You could use a large brick
And it would have little effect.

But strangely, there’s no need to fear it,
There’s no substance behind the façade
And, as it comes nearer,
Its face becomes clearer
And somehow does not seem so hard.

But Mon, you should be of good cheer, it
Has still a good twelvemonth to go
‘Ere you’re captured, defeated
And mercilessly treated
By the big terrifying Five-oh