why did you
ever come back
after being dead
just to haunt me
revise another dry chapter
where lonesome guy
walks his daily gauntlet
writes war poems
imagines trying
vying to recapture
just where I
lay my talking head
dream what wild roses
did to you
just come back
find your way back
through sharp thorns
mind those tangled brambles
call on crawling me
simply to grasp
take firm hold
my trembling hands
lift me up
because I have fallen
lead me gasping
escape to heaven
or do you want
to drive a cruel stake
pierce right through
my bleeding heart
watch me slowly dying
catch me starkly provisioned
at times I still wake up crying
I'm pleading with your sense
smelling your favourite incense
if only there could be
some prized revision
revise your ghostly sight
improvise and lead me
your mystic vision
journey through
death's cryptic night
deceptively unabashed
zipping off
tripping and uncaring
into ghastly hell
rap out
hard knocks
tapping on
mister devil's infernal door
masterfully claiming
lightning and cosmic glimmering
trim curtains lifting
I certainly see
dangling draperies
braided red rope
I'm trying to cope
seeing your apocalyptic
dress of satin
bleeding off of
shimmering you
stand bodily on
so boldly captivating
solidly hovering over
that demon underworld stage
can middle earth ever recover
I see you crying
I hear you moaning
we're still in rapture
yet I'm denying
all your manifest angst
sometimes I wish
this daunting dream
would be over
I'm haunted
I'm feeling
manically unraveled
groveling in muddy gravel
unraveled by your lasting hurt
still I can't help
dearly want to dispel
befuddled I'm sensing
your flaming soul and rage
what if love and reality
never ever ring true
would we still
remain imprisoned
shamed and shackled
just enduring life
within some juried compound
a heartbreaking cage
maybe recurring you
your shimmering spectre
does come back
needing to want me
knowing where we stood
that very same place
we could have been
breathing together
loving and living
rapt with joy and giving
now we're missing
love's passionate moods
all love's dizzying kissing
touch and love we enjoyed
but now it's ghastly
where love and compassion
failed and broke down
confessed rights and wrongs
left a restive reflection
perhaps an invitation
your hovering ghost
cleverly showing up
relentless but wistful
mystically staring out
remarkably a quivering being
ghostly quavering images
harkening to savoury
remarking on what is
that old haunted
silver backed mirror
I surely comprehend you
your cursory image
bent and moaning
you need to say
delay all hope
you want to stay
relay all fear
crazy tears for those
amazed by spectral sound
a crest of reverberation
consider golden buzzer singing
a racket banging tin
deep ringing within
unnerving human ears
who could ever bear
those ghostly sounds
serving clairvoyance
voiceless words
I'm physically hearing
psychically knowing
what special order
life could have been
if you would have
stayed beside me
lived inside me
continued breathing
loving romp and play
who knows
what we could
have been
if you would
have somehow lived
forever with me
instead tragedy
came to own me
oh so silently
desperately surrendering
instead of magically
living on defiantly
still so quiescently
begin with death
love's spirit abandoned us
quintessential pilgrimage
I'm not invincible
I'm simply bereft
left soulfully broken
sadly I'm done
you left me
with your ghostly image
phantom mist encountering
a crown of ball lightning
accountable under twinkling stars
some holy ghost miracle
eclipsed by that crazy mystic moon
repentance under a tantric sun
you and frantic life
could have been
perhaps your ghostliness still can
because you entrance me
but you seem closed
in death so far away
I wish I could
dance with you
hold you in my aching arms
suddenly speaking and music stopped
why wouldn't you want to stay
what about love and charms
your beautiful eyes
your perfect being
passing silently away
now you are witness
your ghost has come
to watch me
try to live
to watch me
try not to die
you still want me
watch me
while I try to play
you still need me
what you feel and think
you're ghost still asks me
to hear all you have to say

                * * *