…of my heart

In my sorrow
and my loneliness
the darkness
is my only companion
it cleaves to me
like my ravens
‘the defenders
of my heart’
the black winds
raised
by their beating wings
keeping all at bay

but I cannot escape
from my restless ghosts
‘for they
still haunt me’
and I am clinging
to my memories
like spiders
spinning webs
binding me to the past

the ghosts
‘of love lost’
whisper my name
in the night
and the images
they paint for me
the emotions they evoke
weigh heavily
upon my broken heart

they appear
as the echoes
of all that was left
unspoken
‘the things
that left me broken’
the constant ache
of regret

in the dark corners
of my mind
‘the things
that I buried’
are now ever present
growing restless
in the shadows

but in a moment
of clarity
I realise
that my ghosts
were never ghosts at all
‘but echoes calling
from your soul’
for I can see you
even in the dark corners
of the night

I can still feel you
feel your breath
upon my neck
and your scent
still lingers
upon my skin
‘time
does not heal
these wounds’

I hear you still
‘just brief moments
of hope’
across the creaking boards
and in the whispers
of the wind
I see you sometimes
in the shadows
of the day

‘but you are gone
lost to me’
these echoes
that transport me
to a time of joy
that conquer
the emptiness
for mere seconds
at a time
are a gift

my ravens
my defenders
have allowed this
‘the sweet haunting
of my heart’
so your echoes
can whisper to me
from afar
now even lifetimes apart
we still share one heart
© Ann Bagnall