The Story of Those Noises Overhead

We have to start telling this
Even though it’s not over
Yet. We don’t want to forget,

And when it ends, that will change
How it was, the bafflement
Of the animal noises

That thumped and scruffled about
In the ceiling every night,
Although the crawl spaces seemed

Clean and empty in daylight.
You brought the neighbors over
With their lights and ladders,

Pack rat traps as well, in case.
They poked around and found
Nothing but dust and spiders,

So they went away. At night,
Nonetheless, and sometimes
Even during a sunny day,

There’d come a sudden scurrying,
Scratching, rapid pattering,
And the occasional loud thump,

And you had to wonder,
Living alone as you did then,
And living with those sounds,

If you weren’t wildly hearing things
That didn’t exist for anyone else,
So for now, we’re noting this down.