"Untitled"

~ Cassie

My funny skin

Born from newborn winter winds

Tightens over my bones

Tingling my fingers

Restricting my grasp for all objects

Squeezing the energy from the pores

I walk slowly but briskly home

My gray, woolen cap pulled low

Over my frosty head

I’m not going to think about you today

But only of protecting my fragile skin from

The winds of January

I know you won’t be home to greet me

What point is there in greeting a ghost?

Indeed, a ghost blown to and fro…

By indifferent icy breezes

The very substance of me is not in the cold

Rather the meat of myself, the soul, the core

Is wrapped warm and safe in your arms

Echoes on the cracked sidewalk

Echoes of my empty shoes

Hollow shoes

To match the hollow image of me…

A ghost walking home alone

Crossing the street to the cold home now mine

No plume of breath heralding lungs

No lungs for the empty vessel

Crossing the street, a car speeding quickly

Passing through the ghost of myself

A startled driver, rethinking the early drink

Cold keys jangle in the lock

Tinkling over and over

To the amusement of the January child

What need has the ghost to enter the empty home?

My heart is safe enough

In your warm-blooded embrace

And my smile fades

As long as my soul is cherished

By you…the living…

© 2002.