Shiver me down

Shiver me down

In a chill breeze

With scant regard

For the season

A faint but ghostly

Flicker of a candle

On the mantle

A beacon in the darkness

Of a blind room

The curtain a faint rustle

Against a window

Framed against

The whiteness

Of a bedroom wall

Cold washed

Stripped of life

Sanitized and clean

As real as any dream

Breaking through

Driving into

Wakefulness

Bleeding into sunlight

Seeping through

From the outside

Where the world is

Oblivious to drama

Offered in silent

Supplication

A prayer for the damned

Is never answered

Petitions left unsigned

Gathering dust

On a sideboard

Stained red

Spill the wine

Pools of blood

Are reminders

Of rose petals

Tumbled on a pillow

With laughter

An echo of torment

Calling back

From the other side

Holding me

Neither here nor there.