Sound Tracks
Some stayed alive long enough to leave.
Some died refusing to go;
the apartment leaks their footsteps.
You follow them to a door
as they slip into closets
to mutter or rage in garments
they have never owned.
Ghosts avoid them
they live on in the fabric and pith,
they die in the gist and substance
of this home as fragmented recordings;
the former, the previous,
and the yet not departed.
Listen tonight, listen for their labored breathing
as they struggle to replace
the things you have laid down
in place of their own.
Once they were the replacement tenants
now you are the usurper, and your trappings
an unsought clutter.
They won’t speak to you, for you are not there,
however they will arrange and restore
what you thought was yours
as you dream of leaving.
Copyright © Eric Ashford | Year Posted 2020
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