In My Room…

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Her Icy Charms

I will sense her presence in my room tonight,

Though I will never feel her warmth.

Like exploitations of the recent past,

My memories distort her image.

To grope for her in darkness

When she cannot be felt

After feeling her in darkness

When I could not feel

Is tantamount to taking trips

To towns where once you lived

Without stopping.

I will walk with her to the grave this morning

Before Phoebus warms the earth

And sears her icy charm.

His chariot, whose heat and radiance

Gives life to undeservers,

Destroys hope of life for two cursed souls

That once could live as one

And now must form their union –

Protected by darkness – clothed in chill.

Our love was never blessed by God,

Nor was it blessed by Satan.

Venus screamed when first she saw us,

For I am blind and she is a ghost…

* * * * * *

John Thomas McElheny – October 30, 1968

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Copyright 2015, Real Spooks – John Thomas McElheny

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Midnight Strand

Real Spooks © 2012 Cynthia Kinkel

Real Spooks © 2012 Cynthia Kinkel

There’s nothing like a walk down Tybee’s Strand Avenue on a chilly, rainy night in December after the bars and restaurants are closed and the south end is completely deserted. Store fronts rattle and vacant condo facades resound with the echos of pounding breakers just yards away. Not even the island’s feral cats are stirring, as brisk vapors of salty dampness roll in to fill empty streets and parking lots. 

No sugarplum fairies dance around these silent palms, regardless how festively they’re wound – only the howling winter wind off the dark ocean like a wailing banshee on holiday…