…are returning

Moonlight is breaking over star sprinkled graves
shadows are dancing, intertwined and intimate
like ivy clinging to an ancient wall
the souls of the dead are returning to this cold winter night
the last of the rose petals softly painted
in all the colours of love
gently drifting down upon the newly fallen snow
a solitary leaf falls, pale faced and trembling
crushed by the weight of darkness
and all of the secrets that darkness keeps
here in this shadowed place, I linger with my memories
for no-one will ever know what has been taken from me
one fatal footstep
and even my echoes have been lost to the grave
no-one knows where I lie for I am silent and alone
in my final repose
darkness has become my only home
and I sleep here in cold hibernation
all that I was and all that I am, hidden in this place
where in time, everything turns to dust
slowly erasing our dark secrets
that will now never be revealed
your heart grew cold
and the dark bruises of love are now hidden for eternity
I am now fallen
yet I still haunt you in my endless grief
I know that in the hours of deep shadows
it is always you that disturbs my silence
my soul stirs with the lifeless leaves
upon the winter trees
and the night brings me angels
now all that remains to be seen of me
my heart in ashes, crumbling to dust
carried away on the breeze
© Ann Bagnall