Haunted World (Poem)

I will not linger to join the company of haunts.

The world is overfull with ghosts.

They shadow our footsteps, stain our windowpanes,

And walk the streets in silent hungry procession.

They watch to see if we remember.

We do not, not enough, never enough to give them life.

I will not take a place in this bread line, though I’ve seen faces there I know:

A grandfather in tattered black coat; a poet from a vanished land;

A goddess still in half-bird form.

I leave behind kindnesses you can have, dreams you can hold,

But not myself. Forget me entirely; I will be gone.