The Mysterious Vanishing of the Foremar Family

Prologue:
I know when I'm gone the full tragic truth will also die.
And therefore their being at last will have been but a lie?
If no-one is left to remember their sorrowful story?
When nobody tells the sad tale? No-one's there to be sorry?
Imagine a night, Stygian black while you're cosy and warm.
Imagine the howling of some ineluctable storm.
So if you are ready and I've got your outright attention,
I'm ready to unveil the story of old Foremar Mansion.
Where a family lived long ago - but what makes it so weird
is not that they lived there but rather that they disappeared.
There wasn't a soul from the great hall to the smallest pantry,
the great Foremar manor henceforward forever stood empty.

They lived in a house built on dreams and built of burnt bricks,
tarted up, impressed by themselves as they swaggered,
gave a home to many good friends and to some rascal tricks.
Sirens lured, could it be that they followed and staggered?

Did they care for anyone else except for themselves?
So why should anyone care for them now?
Empty rooms, not very much left on the old rotten shelves.
They ended in smoke but you cannot say how.

But they all are long since gone.
It's a riddle what went wrong.
Scarcely anyone knows that they ever lived here,
nor do we know why they disappeared.
Why they all have long since gone.

Maybe there lived too many monsters under their stairs.
We don't know if they all were led or were banished.
Did they see strange eyes in the night that gave them a stare?
Did they flee just head over heals as they vanished?

No-one knows if they were driven or if they were led.
Dusty rooms, no more servants to clear away plates.
Did they cry or did they move on without any regrets?
No farewells, no more talks and no boring debates.

But they all are long since gone.
It's a riddle what went wrong.
Scarcely anyone knows that they ever lived here,
nor do we know why they disappeared.
Why they all have long since gone.

The only things found were remains
of the poor chained unwanted cousin.
He had been slightly insane.
From below stairs there was babbling and buzzing.
He just didn't suit, couldn't fit,
so he was locked up in the cellar.
Displeasing he sat in the pit
until he passed, poor little fella.

But they all are long since gone.
It's a riddle what went wrong.
Scarcely anyone knows that they ever lived here,
nor do we know why they disappeared.
Why they all have long since gone.

Glooming stars, or did they run off for a shimmer of gold?
No regrets, they're all gone without any trace.
Far away, or are they still prowling around in the cold?
Pictures fade, can't remember a name or a face.
But they all are long since gone.
It's a riddle what went wrong.

But they all are long since gone.
It's a riddle what went wrong.
Scarcely anyone knows that they ever lived here,
nor do we know why they disappeared.
Why they all have long since gone.

But they all have long since gone.
It's a riddle what went wrong.
So, what drove them away, no-one ever can say
and the only thing we know today
is that they didn't stay