There Are Always Ghosts Among The Walking Wounded

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icebox
Member Elite

since 2003-05-03

Posts 4383
in the shadows

0 posted 2003-08-24 02:56 AM

Once,
it seems like an eternity ago,
I knew a princess.

Daughter of the tyrant of his own domain;
she had escaped the drape of purple sash,
the constant rape of daddy's twisted mind.

Through her years
of hiding in any lowland wretched country
that would have her,
without ripping too much from her pride,
she healed,
and grew to be a woman free
by hiding secrets
braided in her past by lying
when directly asked,
by turning scars away from prying eyes
by using guile,
sex or crime to shield her
from the casually curious thoughts
that tourists accidently caught.

I recognized it
as a reflex art derived from years surviving
by hiding inside distractions,
and the art in simple slight of mind.

Perhaps we shared
what could pass as superficial similarities
in that very special universe of being
all alone in any standing crowd.

I never knew why
she drew me from my shroud,
since in truth I'd not allowed myself the luxury
of being noticed as alive.

Perhaps it was some sense of camaraderie,
the similarities of fugitives living
in the shadows of other people's lives.

I didn't know then
and won't ever know now.

Three years of braided time
we spent living
in the private moments in between
still constant days of hiding in plain sight,
three years of promised hopes and dreams
of making all things right and finally
in pretense safe from all the gnawing fears,
the late night tears,
the bitter lonely years
of terror and control.

Then one night,
in a single moment
perhaps confronted
by the sum of all she feared,
I blinked and she had disappeared.

©2003 by icebox

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean

since 2000-02-02

Posts 27738

1 posted 2003-08-24 03:03 AM

ice?

You don't need duct tape to shut me up.

This just did it.

I leave you with hugs and a hushed "wow".

passing shadows
Member Empyrean

since 1999-08-26

Posts 45577
displaced

2 posted 2003-08-24 03:08 AM

your writing always sets me off into another place, drifting lightly

icebox
Member Elite

since 2003-05-03

Posts 4383
in the shadows

3 posted 2003-08-24 03:11 AM

Oh, darlin' don't worry, you'll recover; after all, one of us has to.

*smile*

passing shadows ~ sorry, I did not see you slip in here while I was teasing the dark witch. I hope you drift safely, like floating on a raft in calm pool, on a warm night. *smile*

[This message has been edited by icebox (08-24-2003 03:19 AM).]

Sunnyone
Member Ascendant

since 2000-07-06

Posts 5334
Staffordshire, England

4 posted 2003-08-24 06:01 AM

Looks like you have a new fan club of 'drifting' poets on your hands, and please count me in!! I'm intrigued by your style, and it has a certain touch of magic that appeals to my senses...beautiful, I'd say...~S~

Accept these small gifts from my gypsy heart ~~S~~

1slick_lady
Member Ascendant

since 2000-12-22

Posts 6088
standing on a shadow's lace

5 posted 2003-08-24 06:51 AM

and me? i just sit at your feet and listen to you talk...h

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

6 posted 2003-08-24 12:33 PM

icebox

A loving understanding of her....such a vivid portrait of love and loss and moving on with the memory. Huggggs!

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

7 posted 2003-08-24 12:35 PM

This one hurts...
which is, of course,
a compliment to your art.

Krawdad
Member Elite

since 2001-01-03

Posts 2597

8 posted 2003-08-24 12:49 PM

"I recognized it
as a reflex art derived from years surviving
by hiding inside distractions,
and the art in simple slight of mind."

Now I know who that window peeker has been.

Nice verse.

Local Rebel
Member Ascendant

since 1999-12-21

Posts 5767
Southern Abstentia