Ghosts

A Poem by Deirdre

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I heard someone cough outside my window
But the thing is I live on the top floor of my building
Am I making up ghosts in order to feel less lonely?
Or are people climbing my walls trying to get me
To stop playing with apparitions?

I hear breathing in the middle of the night
Am I just playing pretend again, I said
Or is there a living breathing soul in that empty bed
He said, No, I can hear it too
But it scares me and I don’t understand
I said I’m sorry that my ghosts follow you
But there are things in my head that are better left unsaid

Though that’s never stopped me before
Unfortunately there’s no bridge for this gap
Between my brain and my tongue
My words sometimes spill out from mouth
And unchecked they seep into the ears of others

I hear whispers in the corner of my room
Are these just the lost thoughts of the last occupants?
Did someone else stay up into the middle of the night
Speaking to ghosts and invisible things?
If so I wish to know their names
I wish to know the names of their ghosts

My ghosts are nameless as of yet
I know why they are here,
I just don’t know what to call them

I’ve been alone for 2 and ½ hours
And for much longer than that
The writing on my arm is beginning to wear
The cuts on my fingers are beginning to scab
The scars on my insides are beginning to fade

8 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days

You never forget, but it does get easier
To remember