Ghosts of Women Past

Why are they here?

These ghosts from your past

You call them up again and again

How long will this last?

Sometimes they mock me

I stamp my feet at them

and spit into the air

At the wisps of the specters

Yet they won’t disappear

Why are they here?

Here and there they parade

A random haphazard brigade

You wonder why I care?

They beg me to compare

In jesting silent tones

Like ancient funereal drones

Padding in and out

Sometimes with a whisper

Often with a shout

They inquire with a sneer

Why are you here?

Lost loves or love lost

Those who left

Those that stayed

Some for a moment

Some for a season

Why are they here?

What is the reason?

They float in and out

On your command

You conjure one up

To remember the past

Some did not last

And some never were

And yet those also haunt you

But why? Why are they here?

As I sit in your house

Where these spirits freely roam

I continually ask

Why can’t we just be alone?

Who can’t let go?

Is it you?

Is it them?

Who keeps revisiting what might have been?

Still they come, one or two sometimes three

Why are they still here

Now that you are with me?

I would not expect you to forget

And yet

The ghostly cobwebs

Ensnare my mind

Entangled in their silk

Outward I peer

And I am a specter in a bind

silently screaming

Why am I here?

The ghosts of your past

Live on to this day

You won’t let them die

You won’t send them away