Tuesday, August 21, 2012

21 years ago....


That Face!

I saw it briefly, just a hint,
     then I made to follow it.

I walked the halls of some strange school,
     coming nearer to the stair;
amidst a throng of phantom-students,
     with see-through skin and opaque hair.

She turned a corner just as I
     trod first the bottom step;
Hastening to follow her,
     I quickly reached the top.

I glimpsed her up another flight,
     and so maintained the chase;
She left my line of sight again,
     so I increased my pace.

Gaining the top of the final flight
     as I set foot upon it,
she stopped there at the corner hall
     and found a place to sit.

Amongst her haunting nightmare friends,
     all visions of my past,
she watched me mount the final step;
     Indeed, it was the last.

But wait!  I could not look at her!
     Something held me back.
It was that shy teenage demeanor
     that always held me back.

I stared around me vacantly,
     like I'd have done back then;
I lost her vision in my dream
     as I had lost her way back when.


          Steven Mayo
          August 1991 

No comments: