I saw a ghost today.
I peered inside
her vacant eyes
and brushed the years away.
I saw her youth,
and she saw mine.
We knew each other’s past.
She spoke my truth
in wistful lines
within her dusty glass.
Time had not stayed his cruel hand
while doling out his normal fruits
but twice had dipped into his sand
to lay the poison at her roots.
Now thirty years cling ’round her, thick with rot.
Beyond the grave she pleads with me,
“Restore my former dignity!”
I stretch my hand to save her but cannot.
I helped my father raise her. She raised me.
I lived in her. She only lives in me.
© 2019 Leo Durrant
Photo Credit: Flickr, Stephen Little