Gone, Never Gone
Dearest ...
I see you there,
Hiding behind your happiness ...
I wonder ... what do you do when alone?
Those middle-of-the-night wakes, armored knight fast a-dreaming,
Nothing but a house full of compromises, half-truths,
And somewhere, lurking ... a monster ...
A terrifying fiend, shadowed and cold,
As safe as you, within your walls.
Pray, does it whisper to you in the silence?
Does it whimper in the rain, like an orphan, forsaken?
Does it cry to you in the sweetest songs of your memory,
Daubed like a parody of passion on your lover's lips?
Every thought you give it, every momentary consideration,
Is food in its belly, and the blood to bind its marrow ...
For it dances even now, wearing moonlight like a second skin,
Taunting your soul's sanctity - a scarecrow in the wind,
The terrible truth of your twilight transgressions,
A reality of concessions, of true love ...
Sacrificed.
Submitted on April 29, 2020
To the "Strand Pick H, Any Theme, Any Form" Poetry Contest
Brian Strand, Sponsor.
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