Shadow

Soft whispers singing in your head
like brushings of a lover's kiss,
breathe into you the chill of a hush
and wake you so you cannot miss

the shadow still beneath your door,
waiting for your waking fear
like sanguine wine for cracking lips,
ambrosia in your tumbling tear

when prayers fall onto deafened ears
and bullets slow no closing death,
when you close your eyes and wish away
the icicles in your shivered breath.

The clock is pounding with your heart,
a sharp caress upon the door,
the beating of your racing blood
and footsteps on the frozen floor.

The thrumming drumming coming dark,
the pulse of nightmares in your mind
converging on this empty room
in which you've found you cannot find

salvation for your ugly sins,
oh, the devil's here for recompense
and you hear his eyes upon your flesh,
your mind which cannot create sense

from the terror in your screaming heart,
fire hunting through the stormy night,
shrieking for a hopeless god,
but freeze. A shadow within sight.

The dance of statues in the dark,
the calm across a dying land,
step forward, frozen, burning, child.
Let the shadow have your hand.