…into my depths

My soul is a vast ocean, undiscovered and uncharted
the surface constantly shifting 
transforming in a manner that hinders clarity
obscuring what lies beneath, beneath the mirror
that only reveals what it wants you see
you cannot hold it in your hands for it is a chameleon
a shapeshifter, colourless like an icicle against the night
slipping silently through your fingers fading out of sight
only to reappear in your peripheral vision, shifting like shadows
dancing in time to unheard melodies, drifting in and out of sight
spinning you around and around 
to the sound of songs that you cannot recall 
until the darkness is finally circling and you are starting to fall 
a wild longing is calling to you
from a faraway place in time and space 
that place that you seek that is yours to keep 
the ice now thin beneath your feet
creaking like ropes on an ancient boat
moving side to side, you start to slide 
into the frozen grasp of my soul’s embrace 
where the sculptor within, carves memories of you into my veins 
my colours bleeding into your depths
soon to reflect in my shifting surface 
a new shade, a new skin, to draw the light in
for my soul, undisguised, is always hungry 
and feeds on the life above the ice
you were always the day to my night and there was no undoing it 
now deep within my realms you will remain
my surface now shifting once again
my mirror painting you anew within the dark terrain
transforming your colours 
into winter’s sombre notes of ice and wind
your earthly form, never to be seen again
© Ann Bagnall