Creepy Poem for Halloween--Subway

Halloween is just a bit of modern fun, imported from USA, and that's how I see it when I write my ghostly pages with horror photos & poems

Creepiness and Halloween Are Virtually a Partnership

This year activities will be somewhat restricted because of Covid-19 , so visuals on your computer might replace wandering round in the dark on Sunday 31st October.

Here's my contribution:

London, Where I Live, Has a Lot of Dark Underground Passages or Subways

In a large city like London, in many places where there are underground stations or busy main roads, you will find interlinked passageways.

When they are deserted, they can be very eerie, disturbing places, and you wouldn't want to linger there.

I hate shadowy underground places--it all started when I visited the catacombs in Rome when I was a child-- there were eerie dark tunnels leading nowhere, and scary skulls on shelves--I don't think I've ever recovered from the grim spectacle.

Here's My Poem:

Subway - by Diana Grant

Subway

A long dark passage leading

Nowhere and everywhere

Grey stained cement walls in the half-light

Austere and unforgiving

Black rivulets running from ceiling cracks

Pervasive smell of urine taints stale air

Openings at intervals where daylight glimmers

On upward slopes to uncertain places

Random writing on the wall

A man could sleep here in his box

Ignored by life and death alike

Just the irregular footsteps passing by

Echoing his heartbeat

© 2009 Diana Grant

Republic of Amnesia by Mark Bryan

Take The Poll Below About Long Dark Tunnels--Let's See How Brave You Are Compared With Your Fellow Pollsters

Some people have nerves of steel underground. Others feel distinctly uneasy.

Personally, I would avoid all underground tunnels unless there was a pressing need or emergency for me to enter one. The mere prospect freaks me out, and I hate the thought of visiting an underground mine (although I have in fact visited a gold mine in South Africa), or going caving, however interesting the stalactites and stalagmites and history of the place. I feel distinctly uneasy in deserted buildings, and I have felt jittery even in something like a deserted indoor swimming pool, or the Roman Baths at the City of Bath, or the small tombs in Highgate Cemetry (burial place of Karl Marx, among other famous people).

I have often tried to analyse what has caused my paranoia and I suspect it developed when my parents took me on a visit to the ancient Catacombs in Rome when I was about 10 years old. All those gloomy passages with skulls and skeletons in unexpected dark niches, and the fear that if I deviated from the main passageway, I might get lost in the pitch dark. No thank you, never again!

How about you?

Robot with Baby--by Presidia Creative--A Dark Passage Indeed

Here Are Some Videos Relating To Subways And Homeless People

• Giving $100 to Homeless People

• Undercity New York City urban exploration

• Make the Homeless Smile

• Ventriloquist Picking up Girls on the Subway

What Scares You? But Be Careful--We Might Use it to Frighten You on a Dark Night--Leave Your Comments Here:

Susan Deppner from Arkansas USA on October 26, 2014:

That's a great poem. We don't have subways around here, but I remember from visiting New York City years ago. Not a comfortable place.

Diana Grant (author) from United Kingdom on March 29, 2014:

@Brite-Ideas: I've got to have an MRI Scan soon - takes 20 minutes in a closed in container - that should be fun! They tell you to bring your own music to keep you happy!

Barbara Tremblay Cipak from Toronto, Canada on March 28, 2014:

enjoyed your poem, very visual! I'm not a fan of closed in spaces

davenjilli lm on October 10, 2013:

heights mostly

Lorelei Cohen from Canada on October 06, 2013:

Yep they scare the heck right out of me. I get nervous very easily.

Alana-r on September 09, 2012:

Cool poem , i really like it.

anonymous on September 02, 2012:

Um... if I told you, I'd have to... well, ya know. :-) Nice lens!

getmoreinfo on September 02, 2012:

Thanks for sharing the Creepy Poem for Halloween - Subway

anonymous on September 09, 2011:

What scares me? Flying. It's my greatest fear and worst nightmare. I get nervous just being in airports even if I'm not flying! I've actually been so terrified that I've momentarily lost consciousness on takeoff, but I've flown to quite a few places and even around the world, because I refuse to be ruled by fear.

Your poem is wonderfully evocative of the feeling of those dark, oppressive places that we all have to brave at times. Great job on this lens!

mockingbird999 on July 22, 2011:

Love your poem.

Tony Payne from Southampton, UK on January 16, 2011:

Being alone in a creepy place scares me. A year after I moved to London in 1978 I had to work late one night in the office down by St. Pauls, and walked back along the back roads to Islington. It was around 3am, and as I passed a small hospital on the dark deserted 2 lane road, I heard an eerie scream shatter the silence. I shivered, and practically ran the last mile, constantly looking behind me.