John Davies
These Honest Ghosts
Breathing memories they stare still,
these honest ghosts breaking crowds
like soulless reflections leaving behind mirrors.
Daylight’s come but they turn from it;
not to see me as they remember
but to walk steadily, detached in slender
to be a part of these streets.
Never to bleed me with a glance -
not one look to touch,
not one sigh.
Fresh from thought they whistle new tunes
so new from voices I hear by sleep.
The ones that wind-whisper my eyes closed,
haunt to keep me close.
*
My hands grasped his shoulders. He was real -
my hands shook him to cry out, to take back my name.
If only to speak it the same.
These are people I knew in past lives
now thrown together here where I walk,
yet something’s not as I remember.
They’re destined for some new light.
Never to see me in this one.
Page(s) 163
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