I’ve written poetry since before I was 12 – about when I first took piano.

Occasionally I like the poem well enough that I would sit down at a piano for days crafting it into a song. This involves building out the melody, harmonies, key changes and instrumentals of the verse, chorus, bridge and outro. It was rare that I would pluck out just the right arrangement that would push the lyrics further into the meaning I wanted them to convey. It’s difficult to do it right.

Here we are in 2025 and a friend of mine introduced me to Suno. (For which I have a Pro account.) I sketched an idea that I thought would play well psychologically – a dad tucking his daughter into bed and as he’s looking for monsters, what he’s really doing is tucking away life’s real “monsters” away so his daughter gets to enjoy her childhood innocence.

I drew out the lyrics, rewrote them several times and after about ten revisions, had something I liked. I placed my lyrics into Suno, described what type of styles I wanted for it to build for the verse, the chorus, the reprise chorus, the bridge and the outro. It took nearly 20 takes before finally building something I could work with.

Even though there are quite a few imperfections and it’s overly produced, I took what came close to my vision and redrafted it with hours of additional editing to get it even closer to what I imagined when I first penned the lyrics. Here is the result of that effort:

These Monsters I Tuck Away
^{[Lyrics by Paurian]}

(Verse 1)
She points to the closet, then yawns really deep,
“Please check for monsters before sleep.”
I nod like a soldier and rise to obey,
the coats smell like gunfire and memories fray.
Each button’s a medal, each stitch holds a scream,
a war that I fought in the folds of a dream.
But I close it up tight with a fatherly grace
and say with a smile, “There’s nothing in place.”

(Chorus)
I hide the dark where the shadows creep
so she can sing herself to sleep.
The world outside may come undone,
but in this room, she sees the sun.
These monsters I tuck away, away…
So she can live her childhood days.

(Verse 2)
She asks with a yawn, “Could you check down below?”
I kneel on the rug where the quiet fears grow.
There under the bed lies the weight of my shame:
pink slips and silence that whisper my name.
The echoes of layoffs and panic and debt
crawl out like regrets I’ve tried to forget.
But I smile again with my practiced tone,
saying, “Only some toys and socks you’ve outgrown.”

(Chorus)
I hide the bills, the broken truth,
the razor-edge that stalks her youth.
The real monsters wear a friendly face –
they charm, they cheat, then leave no trace.
These monsters I tuck away, away…

So she can laugh a while and play.

(Bridge)
The window’s ajar and the sirens drift near –
a flicker of red, a whisper of fear.
There’s crime in the alley, a scream in the night,
but I draw the drapes closed to block out the fright.
She shouldn’t yet know that the world doesn’t care –
That justice is broken and rarely plays fair.
She’s still got a doll and a blanket that sings.
Let me fight off the truth with invisible wings.

(Chorus Reprise)
I take the fears, the grief, and the truth
to fight off the ghost who steal her youth.
The monsters I live with every day
are in my head even as we pray.
These monsters I tuck away, away…
So she can live her childhood days.

I hide the dark, the tear-stained days –
the heartbreak life so oft repays.
She thinks I’m brave, and maybe it’s true…
(but) my armor’s stitched from lies I choose.

These monsters I tuck away, away…
but the worst one comes some distant day…
When she’ll outgrow the tales I weave:
That day when I’ll have to let her leave…

(haunting voice from the future to her future child)
These monsters I tuck away

(instrumental fade)