all day yesterday
all that I saw
every time I turned my head
was shadows
moving quickly
at the corners of my eyes
momentarily caught
then gone
at first, I thought it nothing
a simple trick of the light
then as the day wore on
I heard the whispers begin
but then the light changed
that came into my room
and her voice in its musical lilt
filled me full from within
I didn’t tell her
about the shadow people
about the whispers that rolled
down the back of my neck
I didn’t tell her
I felt a haunting chill
she had chased
the miserable whispers away
she came again that day
with stories and imagination
she challenged me to think
in a way I hadn’t done
we played
like costumed characters at a ball
she took from me innocence
as if it were the very first time
she told me stories of creatures
hiding in the night
on the fringes of her forest
but that she would always keep me safe
still those headless images
kept floating in my stairwell
like the ones I saw as a child
all those years ago
I curled myself into her arms
and left my mark on her
as I chose to choose her forever
and never leave her side
she sent me off to sleep
in the blissful state of dreams
as she had left me spent
completely at her hand
sometime later
I heard her come into my room
banging a gong loudly
announcing her return
I woke strangely and scattered
rattled, unable to think
and everything started to spin
and those heads showed up again
the magician, and his lady
and the rabbit pulled from a hat
have been playing their devilish tricks
since before I knew what they were
the moments passed quickly
and the room began to spin
and I lost my train of thought
replaced by something else
rage came in some thought exposed
and I thought I understood
what I had misinterpreted
for so many years, so long
suddenly a crack
as I heard the door click
she was gone and in silence
those fucking heads danced
I scrambled to grab hold
of the thoughts that spun from me
but there is nothing left in my hand
but that damn magician’s wand
for so many years they haunted
and kept me awake in the night
and I let them leave me terrified
not knowing, they, were me
