THE PHANTOM STRINGS

My favorite puppet.

I’ve none to tether me to Earth,

No thread of pain, no weight of birth,

Once bound by threads, but now unspun�"

I dance within the shadowed sun.

Hi-ho, the grave doth sing,

A solemn hymn, a somber ring,

The world shall know my spectral glee,

For naught can ever burden me.

No strings�"so free, I drift alone,

No lover's grasp, no heart of stone.

They writhe with chains that bind the soul,

But I am ghostly, dark, and whole.

Your arms, they yearn�"but free they be,

To touch me near the hollowed sea.

Ah, yes, should you pursue my shade,

I’d snap my bonds in twilight’s blade.

No strings to break, yet still I’d sever,

My fate entwined with Death�"forever.

Between us whispers fade to dust�"

For you, I'd cut the ropes of trust.

Upon the Volga’s winding sweep,

Where shadows coil and secrets creep,

I’ve met with Ivan’s mournful cry�"

But to your side, I’d rather die.

No strings remain, I drift unseen,

A soul unmoored, a wraith serene.

"I've got no strings to hold me down

To make me fret, or make me frown

I had strings, but now I'm free

There are no strings on me..."

Author's Note

The closing stanza alludes to the famous song from Pinocchio, "I’ve Got No Strings," further highlighting the theme of freedom from constraints. However, while in Pinocchio, the absence of strings is celebrated as liberation, in "The Phantom Strings," this freedom carries a weightier connotation of isolation and detachment from the living world.