I never meant to wander here,
or let my soul burst,
A shadow across your riotous world.
I never sought to tear your heart,
To watch you recoil, so frail,
From the flame I dared to burn.
It waits- lurking just beyond the veil,
Not in some distant place-
But curled, living, at my side.
It watches, hidden in the dark,
A phantom in the corner of my mind,
A creature woven from the threads of sadness.
Oh, it’s tangled deep within my thoughts,
A ghost that will not let me rest-
It claws, it whispers, it returns again.
summer of 2025
MISTER WILLIAM REILLY 