…in the catacombs of my mind

Tread lightly in love, for there is quicksand underfoot 
and shallow waters that disguise their true depths 
from the unwary traveller
heed my gentle warning, for I was once that traveller
an untamed fire, my flames wild and dancing in the wind
unaware that the tides that gently ebbed and flowed 
in such beauty that they drew me in
would eventually consume me 
and I would find myself drifting weightless 
unable to see where the shore ends and the ocean begins 
where the space between pleasure and pain 
is just a sliver, a mere breath 
where in a fragment of a second 
eternity whispers of unreached dreams and of things undone 
the dark secrets and words unspoken 
the things that I set free yet still held deeply 
in the shadowed corners of my soul
and in the shelves hidden in the caverns of my mind
where all that I ever contemplated
even for a moment, is deposited, hidden away from the light of day 
out of sight out of mind, crowding the corners 
and the backrooms of my memory
far away from today, lingering like a beloved fragrance 
or the tune of a favourite song, the words now long gone
these are the walls that I hide behind
where pieces of you are deeply buried 
in places that even I cannot find, the things that made me who I am
now lost in the catacombs of my mind 
the infinite darkness my canopy, now gently reaches over me 
I hide here in the shadows where only the eyes of the night can see 
the veils of the moon blanket me 
her silver shrouds of mystery creating galaxies upon my skin 
and I am trying not to drown in the melancholy flowing over me
as the depths of sorrow pull me down
© Ann Bagnall