Nowhere Else

Nowhere Else
by me(whatever)

In the next room,
they are waiting.
Impatient, voracious
scraping at the grating.

cold basement apartment,
bundled in blankets.
electric flickering, dripping tap
dilated eyes on the glass doorknob.
The children sleep in turns.

They scurry and pound,
the floor, the walls, the door.
The moaning wakes the youngest,
whose cries for his mother
summon their interest for prey.

Night after night,
an hour before dusk,
small hands must assure that door is locked. 

There's nowhere else to go.