In Shadows, They Cry by C.S. Fuqua

Vague apparitions,
she explains,
assemble near the soon-to-die,
faces and features distorted,
darkness shaping, reshaping
all but the eyes which
remain constant,
pleading, accusing,
until she flees
in prayers for strength
to blind herself.
Trembling with knowledge,
she says nothing to those
around whom the darkness gathers,
nor to the darkness itself.
If the shadows clot around me,
I begged her, please tell me.
She cried softly
across the ocean that separates us.

Longing in this room,
I whisper to the silence,
さびしい です、*
and reach for invisible hands.

*sabishii desu:  “I am lonely.”

From: http://tiptonpoetryjournal.com/tpj7/fuqua.htm

Date: 2007

By: C. S. Fuqua (19??- )