…in my hollow soul

You beckoned to me with an outstretched hand
and like a moth to a flame I reached for you
the stars spilled silver on the curves of the sea
and the gentle waves danced back and forth in moonlit revelry
hidden in shimmering veils, of endlessly shifting mists
we danced for hours in this mysterious place
to the raucous, yet enticing songs of a ghostly band
whose fiddlers played
on the thin threads of fragile spider webs
but in the end all would be revealed
a thousand lanterns gently hung
each one a soul that lingers here
I saw myself in silhouette, dancing all alone
my wild trembling steps another dark reminder
of my heart’s undoing
I was once again that frightened child
forever trapped in a recurring dream
every night I walked alone
I held a seashell and it sang your name
I wore the ring and I wore the dress
that I hadn’t grown into yet
there was no revelry, only a dream
a fantasy conjured from wishes
the dark cycle repeating itself
and the shadows still fell in my hollow soul
just another page turned in an unread book
© Ann Bagnall