…with a whisper

It began with a whisper, a quiet voice in the shadows
familiar yet unfamiliar, like the scent of rain
upon the parched earth after years of drought
it spoke to me in half-truths, its voice soft as silk
my thoughts circling
until the line between darkness and light faded to grey
it arrived in silence, no lightning no thunder
creeping softly in, like water through cracks in fractured stone
seeking my weaknesses, my unguarded moments
it was there to be found in the choices made
when no one was watching, in the silence that followed
when I looked away, when my soul strayed
we were companions, evil and I
walking side by side in the twilight
as the days dissolved into the deceptive calm of the night
it did not ask me for anything, just small concessions
a glance away, a word unspoken, a thought left unchallenged
in return it offered the comfort of apathy
the ease of indifference
but I was drowning there in the depths of its embrace
in the darkness of that place
and I felt the weight heavy upon my heart
the cold unyielding truth that evil is a chain around the soul
that must be broken, for us to ever be whole
© Ann Bagnall