the afterglow

lights

the ghost's face--

from where to where

the wandering spirit

makes known its presence

and what unbelievable sadness

should it learn

the one it wishes to haunt

has passed on but is free

not earthbound

you will scoff

believing

none of this

your own souls

so encrusted in matter

that you may never see heaven again

but without belief you cannot care

and so

make yourself right

but to those spirits bound to the World

but just outside materiality

and to those they seek

and to those who in trance of second sight

or a flash at the corner of the eye

see them stalking themselves

to whom the greater pity

when a life's afterglow

shines on the haunted face

that turns to see the nothingness

beneath nothingness

and know it is alive beyond being alive

that there is no way to describe the indescribable

that all it seeks is gone and must forego

the attachment of seeking

the ghost's face sees the afterglow

feels the fading warmth on its face

and turns again

looking for it's way

out

Content (c) 2008-2011 Philip Milito.