Suspended

I’m caught between

ecstasy

at your being here

and the grief of it,

for the world

isn’t good enough

for you

Haunted

I’m haunted

by a thing invited

and a thing that invades.

I permit it

to a room’s space

and at every corner

I find it behind my face

Unwelcome

If it makes it past my heart

I’ll kill it with my hands

There’s an echo in the mountains

When the body lands

Moons and Oceans

Not a person

But a planet full

Vast in its purple oceans

And many in its moons

Dragging me into your orbit

And drowning me in your

Violet waves

Staying

She pulls me

gently

down a well-worn path,

littered with ferns and old letters,

and brings me to

a flowery clearing.

“This is always where they leave,”

she says,

indicating the barren field.

“Yes,” I say,

“this is it.”

“This is what?”

“This is a perfect place

to build a home.”

Halloween

Breathing heavy,

I wait for light to leave the sky –

longing for your nighttime spell

a brutal, tortured tongue-tie.

You haunt me with your drawling voice

dark and yet unseen,

you disturb my foolish, failing heart

and call it Halloween.

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