Hope

Shadows drape in mimicry of the hollows in my frame

Each specter host to countless faults I’m far too weak to tame

My limbs are bound to theirs on ground I dare not stoop to touch

The flesh of my reflection now the earth itself corrupts

These ghosts of mine wax gamboling under the waning light

Their faceless countenances stretched unseemly with delight

Denuded of resistance they flow gleefully ahead

In smooth unscripted mockery of my advancing dread

Persistent susurrations tempt the skin behind my ears

Insisting I should yield to them control of all my fears

The wasteland of all yearnings yawns before me bright and black

As helplessly I slide between the banks of Charon’s track

A midnight ride in darkness borne and toward some darkling end

An ebon course no angel dares and devils run instead

Baptized in liquid uselessness, a consecrate by pain

I’ll lift my will above my bones to find myself again.