Images of After

Ghost woman, spirit child,
The hollow reflection remains,
She moves through her life in shadows

Suffocating memory,
The weight that sustains her vigilance
Terror spurts like an artery,
Oppressive assailant shrouded in night

Dread and apprehension, familiar companions
That eased out jocund days
Framed against a ticking clock,
Jagged memories tear holes in flesh anew

Like the caw of a raven, a death knell,
That pains and pulls at her reverie
Ghost woman, spirit child,
The hollow reflection remains,
She moves through her life in shadows

The abyss of a union, absence of trust in intimacy
Proximity is but a reflex for fear
Heart pumping, pounding maniacally,
Lips choked silent by forbidden introspection
Like liquid tremors invading the body damaged

The incessant drip of memory,
Enveloping,
Relentless,
As ceaseless as the pressure of his judgment
On her slender throat

Running To and running From,
Illusions of hope set the pace of that silent dance
A gossamer thread of desire,
Too fragile and thin to clasp

Self-promises that will not purge,
Form scars on the lies that scald her brain
Deny, deny the ruin filled hours
Deny, deny the intruding reflections
Need to be safe, her ubiquitous goal

Ghost woman, spirit child,
The hollow reflection remains
An altered state now forms her life…
Moving in the shadows