You’ve lingered in the shadows

For so long now

Hovering like some ghastly ghost

Breathing a beat behind my neck

Baying in the stillness

And beckoning me

To see you

To hear you

To return to you.

You’ve lingered in the memory

For a lifetime

Refusing to dust and die

Replaying your part repeatedly

Washing me in waves of what was

And teasing me with

What I left

What I forgot

And what we became.

You’ve lingered neath the skin

Like a venom

A serpent silently slivering

Seeping beneath the bones

Salivating on the separation

And hissing at me

To succumb

To submit

To surrender .

You’ve lingered in the lines

For pages past

Writing your way into rhymes

Wriggling through the rhythms

Stealing sense from my sentences

And poetically pointing me

Back to you

Back to me

Back to before.

You’ve lingered in the pictures

I took of you

Finding you always solitary

Seeking out the unseen shadows

Peeking into parts undiscovered

Perhaps to persuade myself

To trust you

Be part of you

Be seen with you

Again.