Reckoning Up

~

tentatively circling

like over cautious 

predatory birds 

demons pick their 

place and settle by my 

bedside to stake their 

claims and barter 

for my soul,

~

stoic as chess pieces,

stand the spectres of my life,

they watch me tiptoe 

closer to my mortal

precipice, their auras 

flare or fade, teased 

by the fragility of my

faltering sentience,

they do not speak but

nonetheless I am privy

to their deliberations,

~

I consider each one for

the who, the where, 

the what or how and if 

they ever made me smile,

cry or frown,

some are angels, nubile

beauteous girls, that flit

amongst the other ghosts

as if to tempt and tease

the stolid emotionless 

faces gathering,

the others, set beneath 

darker cloaks throw 

worried looks from woeful 

earnest eyes, each holding

tarnished scales to weigh

my life’s account, laid bare

all spent and nothing due,

~

so, this is the long game, a

jamboree of addled thoughts.

set side by side, both velvet

kisses and, sharpened daggers

find their mark,

virgins’ tears bedfellows

to wicked hateful scowls,

~

as shredded fibres yank

coiled rewired memories, 

facts and dross all jumble 

into soup stirred by the

tarnished spoon of my 

departing intellect,

I, a poor mans’ Jesus figurine 

take all with equal grace, 

giving thanks, before like

unfulfilled disciples, my ghosts 

passively turn away and leave

*

© GRS 9/24