footsteps echo down the long black marble halls


green flame torches in each bracket mark doorways to places



minds, souls, hearts

lives




unseen





head hung low as if a weight is born by the cranium
an iron ring encircling the forehead grows tighter


hair on end from all the residual energy drifting through the fog soaked air



it hides things from me




and me from everything else






cascading waterfalls decorate the walls near the throne of bones
the water is dark

the slvery sheen of life it gives off lights the dais



footsteps echo in the hallways





i'm outside the door of someones room
i don't remember why i'm here except that i was asked to come
they called me



from their nightmares







screaming gasping and i arrive at their door just as they awake to hear them talking to themselves in hoarse whispers of reassurance


of how it was just a dream






footsteps echo in the hallways







pulled through an open door to another sleeper


covers halfway off, phone in hand
my number on the screen
this one i think about alot

then decide to erase my number from their archives
and become lost to them
the busy life has no time for me when it's moving forward
one final kiss goodnight

and goodbye my love
you have no need for crickets anymore



footsteps echo in the hallways





i'm back in the marble corridoor


staring into the silver water of my black fountains




i open my eyes





and everything just fades











to echoes of footsteps









in the hallways