Written by Becky Waldron
Illustrated by Ruby Hinchliffe
As my body wanders through open doors
There’s no life here, any more
Floorboards creak through mountains of dust
A life once lived, covered in rust
Portraits hang, stare deep into my soul
I wonder if I, too, could have grown old
Flutters of bats echoes right through
I hurry past mirrors I might have to look to
Old oak, carpet and rotting wallpaper
The wrath of time is not your saviour
Each room unveiled, one by one
I can’t seem to find where my family have gone
Recognition of their life has disappeared
To miss them once more was what I feared
If not here then it’s another place they must be
Perhaps the next life where humans sleep
I pass a reflection I dare to grasp, but
I gaze to it and nothing looks back
Through a jagged window I transcend through
This vast world is nothing without you
Another land I’ll roam through the night
Although I’ll give the living a bit of a fright
I didn’t want to scare them, just say hello
Because our last encounter was centuries ago
Isolation swallows what’s left of me
Before the afterlife I thought I knew lonely
The warmth of companionship took for granted
Yet, how is it now me who is haunted?
This world today is a world that isn’t mine
One that’s danced with the rhythm of time
The ones around me, I loved the most
But what is there to love when you’re just a ghost?
The Author
Becky studied at the University of Sussex and currently lives in Birmingham. She specialises in musical journalism and is currently a traffic data journalist. She enjoys writing poetry and songs in her spare time.
