Spooky Encounter

Standing in my kitchen, wearily washing breakfast's congealed dishes Dreaming desperately of dredging up a dinner delightful and delicious Late winter's wan rays of sunlight weaving their way through living room blinds Weakly warming the chill hovel I'd rented since being orphaned in 1989... Startlingly, a creak, then a tear-stained moan from somewhere behind me A window opened, blinds parted, a breeze started: delusion--or eerie tragedy? Whirling around, stifling a cry, I watched in wonder, wanting only to know What this weeping and wailing thing was, whooshing its way to and fro And wherefore invisible, as the wind whirred ever faster and faster Would it cut me down, or would I manage to outlast her? When of a sudden, I saw it, an apparition, sure and clear What on earth was my father's ghost, his wavering image, doing here? A spectral mouth, jabbering jaws, skeletal face bearing the telltale scars Of my departed father's journey through a universe bereft of planets, suns or stars He spoke, this spook; he called my name: "Help me, please, my son. Ask Him for His pardon; to undo the wrongs I've done." I shrank from the image, my father's ghost, in pure terror Surely it had returned to Earth by means of delusional error I shrieked and hid my face, praying for the wretched thing to leave my place Whereupon, abruptly, the image faded, whisked back in time by the Devil's Grace... The mind's imagination ranges Far beyond mere celestial zones Chilling mere human essences to the marrow of their bones September 20, 2018 Sponsor: Tania Kitchin Scary or Spooky Poem Contest