Hungry Shadows
As Silence pushes aside the chill of Autumn’s first sigh, a loneliness settles into the crevasses of my mind.
Betwixt the shadows growing on the walls and the mournful cry of a distant ambulance’s siren..
I hear you. Your laughter. The sincerity of your chuckling brings tears to these old eyes,
Lids stretched thin over years, pulled tighter as the distance between us grew.
Watercolor walls, the backdrop of tonight’s wetting pillow, your eyes haunt me.
How they lifted when I made you smile.
How they crinkled when we doubled over laughing over a joke only we could understand…
I miss you, my dear.
Miss how our bond could keep the shadows of night at bay,
But without you they grew long, with fingers like decaying branches.
Sharp. Brittle. Sorrowful.
How I wish I could ask you to save me!
I scream in the silence of my thoughts,
“Help me.. please. Oh! How they call out to me…”
Yet, we can’t even exchange a recipe for coleslaw, let alone our feelings.
How I hope you’re doing well, though if I had a choice–
I’d send these hungry shadow your way.
Just for a single night.
Awakening to a world where I’m not alone in this suffering.
