Dancing Fears

Walking past the midnight pools,
Passing the other paranoid fools,
Fingers a-twitching to no tune,
Head lowered to the typhoon,
That nobody else can perceive,

Eyes dart tentatively to nothing,
Lines of light thrown against the wall,
Glimpses of shadow.

Drawing a dry breath of anxiety,
He wishes deep down to be free,
Liberated from the infestation,
That is almost an accusation,
And festers upon us,

Blinking hard he doesn’t hesitate,
Turning left instead of right,
Into another shadowed frontier,

Bloodstained hands wrapped in velvet,
Forehead dowsed in a cold sweat,
Lungs constricted by heavy lead,
Thoughts weighed with dread,
Morals long-ago left,

Shivering, his head full of doubt,
Internal screams for tranquillity,
And behind the luckless dead,