Otero Junior College Chinook

Phantoms

In scarce daylight, shadows fluctuate and disappear.
Night vigils produce idle phantoms,
uncertain where they come from, or where they belong
with such phantoms I go, not wanting to recognize
they hold the hands of time.
A whirl of memories passed by on a sad night,
where mysterious malformed specters and fugitives
abort remorse and illusions, and are gone in peace.
Pages written say what the soul conceals.
The heart reads ideas that escape from hidden spaces
that live in the heart of remembrance.
Phantoms absorb thoughts, fixed to remember the past
which are lost on walls that sway,
They stand restless, greeting with outlandish gestures.
Though they lack eyes I feel them looking at me,
I go without resistance and recognize
that memories in the corner of my mind
are phantoms larger than life, that the hands of time have placed.
When I close my eyes I see them indoors and outdoors,
In the shade they are white,
In the light they are black.
Mysterious phantoms of the night are illusions that passed
beliefs that exist and are gone in peace.

——Norah Gomez
Community Friend