Restless

by Claire Rice

Standing in the Hallway

I’m not sure if I own this house

Or just share it with the falling sunshine and the sweet breeze.

This is sufficient to spend some time in.

There’s Just More Desert

I’ve ridden off into the sunset before,

I couldn’t see where I was going

With the sun in my eyes.

I’ve snuck off into the night,

The place I left shown like a star

Tempting me to go back.

I’ve lifted into the air and shot for the moon,

It was a lot of waiting in the void

And the moon changed before I got there.

I’ve dived into the deep end,

But the struggle to break back through the surface

Made the dive seem useless.

No matter the direction, I always knew

I wouldn’t stay.

And I didn’t.

Ghosts Know Your History, You Don’t Know Theirs

Their eyes blink at me from the dark,

Slow and calm.

My ghosts trust me not to scream.

They are shadow things that live in my closet,

Crouched down low, heads resting on their knees.

They press their fingers to their lips.

The dead wait until my nightmares wake me up,

And whisper their grief to my waiting breath.

The children of my fears make no sound anyone can hear.

I see them as part of the dancing shadows,

Shinning darkly on the edge of my changes.

My ghosts dream to me of my own death.

Their eyes blink at me from the dark,

Love and care from the full black everything.

No words, no songs, no stories here. 

There is no beginning, no end, no rhyme,

No reason.

My ghosts trust me.

And dream to me.

And press their fingers to my scream.