Misleading Lights

you are acrylic paint stumbling
down a hollow canvas,
thin and sad
like a bending willow.

i can't help wondering
how you lost that
spark that flooded the darkest of
nightmares
stumbling
through dark hallways with nothing
to see,
bones crunching, haunting the
place. they won't find me.

i don't want them to try.
i am a leaf, trembling in the breeze,
gales and gusts like songs
of sadness. tonight, i hide
beneath the dark veil of sky.
stars over my eyes.

i pull dreams about myself,
distorting reality. i am not
here, not here, never here.
whispers enclose me.
i am safe
for now.

morning breaks and they wonder --
was she ever real?