Whispered Wanderings

after Edgar Allan Poe, from “Ulalume”

Ah, what demon has tempted me here?
To wander, to ponder, such things as I fear?
I walk through the night like a ghost on the moors
an impossible visage my reflection abhors.

But safe within darkness now holding my heart,
for precious safekeeping: my only real art.
And walking in shadows is how I stay numb;
can’t let myself feel, for fear I’ll succumb.

Instead in the quiet of moonlit night –
I scribble my verses to bring in the light.

klm
5/25/24