"Shadow Play."

I stare rejection in the face
before I go to bed
each night

It smiles as if it knows
everything I'm yet to feel

burns into the carcass it betrays

a shadow play.

Single droplets dissipate

tormented

I look beyond,
try to see
understand that this is it

this is me

I can't.

I close my eyes and turn
catching for a moment

herself move

she reaches out

I walk away.

© 2008 Michaela James.

one corner

Tears as trinkets
unlike diamonds

shiver with pain

one corner of the room
displayed yet
shadowed by the hand that caressed another.

The void of sanity enveloped
with each blow
seared

torched by words of sorrow

one corner of the mind
hidden yet
reflected in the shallow cry of silence.

I saw myself

slumped
engorged

piety drowned

one corner of the box

lit for a moment
before the darkness took me.

© 2008 Michaela James.