Ghost in real life

It’s been a year.
I keep getting dragged back though.
To that old house,
It’s like it’s haunted,
And I’m the ghost.

It’s cold
All the time,
The windows and doors
Are all open,
But I can’t leave

It’s a dusty old house
Darkened by the smoke
And the passage of time
I can almost
Feel it flinch
With the passing cars

I’m all alone this time,
It’s not what’s there
That haunts me,
It’s what isn’t

You left me there
And I needed you
To come back,
But you
Didn’t

And now
I’ve become a ghost
Forever
Waiting
For our lost time.

I’m scared
To make a sound
What if you knew?
Could you forgive yourself?
I
Just want to
Leave

I sit alone
And cry at night
On the tiled floor.
A wild cat passes right through me.
The Sun never reaches my skin.

Wherever I am
I am here
Lost
In a place I know
Too well

 

One Way Problem

A flightless bird in a cage, high above the ground, “If you want to leave” they said “just take the key”. I looked around at the tight walls around me, then down into the void below. “I have nowhere to go” I replied, “how can I leave?”
“That’s not my problem” they answered, “you only said you needed to leave, I’m only stating you can, don’t think I’ll help you, that’s not real freedom, so figure it out”.

I sat in the dark for a long time, my muscles atrophying from the lack of space to move around. Then I started to formulate a plan; like Daedalus I slowly gathered feathers from the birds around me, I worked to get enough materials to scrounge up what I would need for my age-old invention. If I couldn’t be aided by those who were supposed to help me I’d find my own way out, before the air got so thin that I would suffocate. I was only missing one thing: a stable ground to land on.

I slowly tested my new wings, in relative secret, landing on rickety platforms before coming back to base. I got quite good at flying and the clean air outside made me a little stronger to endure the cage. Then one day I was offered a more stable landing ground, just as my cage ran out of air.

I flew away as the cage crumbled behind me.

All I wanted was to be free. But some chains still cling to me, bashing into my ribs as I flap my wings.

I just want to be free.