In the catacombs of my mind

Tread lightly in love
for there is quicksand underfoot 
and shallow waters 
that disguise their true depths 
from the unwary traveller
heed my gentle warning
for I was once that traveller
an untamed fire, my flames wild 
and dancing in the wind

unaware that the tides 
that gently ebbed and flowed 
in such beauty that they drew me in
would eventually consume me 
and I would find myself drifting weightless 
unable to see where the shore ends 
and the ocean begins 

where the space 
between pleasure and pain 
is just a sliver, a mere breath 
where in a fragment of a second 
eternity whispers of unreached dreams 
and of things undone 
the dark secrets and words unspoken 

the things that I set free 
yet still held deeply 
in the shadowed corners of my soul
and in the shelves hidden 
in the caverns of my mind
where all that I ever contemplated
even for a moment, is deposited 
hidden away from the light of day 

out of sight out of mind 
crowding the corners 
and the backrooms of my memory
far away from today 
lingering like a beloved fragrance 
or the tune of a favourite song 
the words now long gone

these are the walls that I hide behind 
where pieces of you are deeply buried 
in places that even I cannot find 
the things that made me who I am 
now lost in the catacombs of my mind 

the infinite darkness my canopy 
now gently reaches over me 
I hide here in the shadows 
where only the eyes of the night can see 
the veils of the moon blanket me 
her silver shrouds of mystery 
creating galaxies upon my skin 
and I am trying not to drown 
in the melancholy flowing over me
as the depths of sorrow pull me down

© Ann Bagnall