I saw a Spectre Standing in my Door

I saw a spectre standing in my door

It wore the face of someone I was not

Dressed just as when it had appeared before,

And still same terror in my mind it wrought

Our pallor bound by chains, myself devised

So there I fell before its standing form.

And then with silent scorn it bid me rise

Did I feel pride or guilt; my heart reform

For there I saw the ghost that once was me

Had come to measure that which I now was

The spectral witness proferd no decree

I stood, a different man with different flaws

I’m not who I’d intended to become

Yet still beholden to the man I’m from.

---

Here is a second poem, for free!

Raindrops roll down faded petals

As the shower stops

Underneath, the bird flicks water from soot-gray feathers

While sunbeams caress her wings