Ghost

Hot enough to blister

Sheets tangled on limbs

Dark thoughts continue to fester

Turning over every whim.

A time-worn reel begins to play

calming the roiling in my mind

Of an innocuous meeting--

Us laughing side by side.

Not quite a fantasy

Neither frivolous, nor mundane.

Not a dream or passing fancy,

Something closer to a memory.

I picture the tape undone

Sitting on soft dewey grass

Sunspots filtering through 

With questions gone unasked.

This scene is a nagging pinch

A rasping, cloying reminder

Of words spilling unfettered

Ink pooling from my chest.

Somehow your face pulls me back

Before the colors dampened,

my smile sharpened,

and skin stretched taut.

Before the years turned heavy

Closing in over my head.

Chance meetings once treasured

Now inspire black dread.

Returning to your ghost,

Lifts the spirits from my breast,

Shakes the clutter loose,

And unbinds my wrists.

The sweet night air coats my limbs

And I am cleaved open again,

Ready for the trials unknown

Accepting of tales spun in gold.

A half-formed idea still,

And yet all too certain.