~Haunted~

I try
every day
to walk
these hollow halls
but memories resound

frame after frame
they flit about
like floating daggers
each attempting
to pierce
something
lost
to me
but they only serve
to stir the air

filling it
with the scent of frangipani blooms
and salt
and the echoes of words

(oh such soft
words)

words once whispered
so sweetly
against the tip
of a beating metaphor
which now seems
to have shrivelled away
lost
in the silence
of autumnal shadows

words which once
warmed the depths
of an arctic ocean
filled with tears
until it was set ablaze
with passion's kiss

words

(such sweet
words)

like ghosts
they haunt me
begging me
to free myself
of breath
to let the pain
pour free
like crimson rain
acid
etching loss
into unforgiving marble

just words
I remind myself
they're just words
just...

but I know what a lie
just
is

and that some day
the ghosts
will win.


© 2013 Khitii Lae-Ahn