Retreat!
Seeking the shadows in gutters that cloak my existence
From prying eyes and probing tongues flicking questions
Not wanting my layers of scars to be seen
Or to hear whispering voices between my dead ears
Asking me how forgotten old scars came to be
I don't want to remember or see them again
When it is hard enough to feel their echo cling to my skin
Reminding me of lies I confessed to no one but God
Because I have no faith in his truth or infinite substance
Much less in hope of receiving divine forgiveness
Between Earth and Hell is there a perceptible difference?

Regret
Follows me, haunting the choice selfishly picked like a flower
To pretty up my ugliness and hide who I once wanted to be
Too late to wake up from someone else's bad dream
My nightmare consumes hallways that once led to a chest full of hope
Until Pandora decided that was the box where she could hide all her sin
Or was that just my excuse to pretend I had no crimes to conceal?
Perfectly hidden behind my invisible mask of deceit
Closets locked with skeleton keys carved from bones still unrevealed
Containing the secrets not even I expose to light or to sight
Here not even bats can sense the difference between black and white
Where beyond these tightly sealed doors it remains forever midnight

01/26/2015

Posted on 01/26/2015
Copyright © 2026 JJ Johnson