Nobody knew where the sign came from,
what the words meant or why it was there,
but it scared them for some reason they couldn't say,
it made made them uneasy, and made them afraid.

They took it down, of course,
but another one took its place the next day.
The doors were locked, the shutters drawn,
but still it appeared just the same.

It was something stupid, a cliche, a bore,
an excerpt from a B movie or a late-night thriller,
except it was real and in the room.

Eventually the signs started to change,
one letter or symbol at a time,
but by the time its strange cryptography grew lucid
they'd found something else to talk about.