You come unbidden into my life

An unwanted house-guest

Arriving without invitation

 

Silent tears, now so often just a breath away

Creeping in, unseen from beyond the darkness

Wrapping my shoulders with hollow grief

 

Inhabiting the edges of my days

Nurturing melancholy, the friend of tears

An unwelcome companion, who remains too long

 

Stirred by some imprint, a single word, note of music, a shadow

Vestiges of another time, squeezing in, through the shuttered door

of the past. Rattling noisily inside a memory box

 

Slyly attaching itself to my sleeve, demanding attention

Walking beside me, a blur, just beyond vision

Reminding me of loss, of grief, of emptiness

 

The bringer of sad days

To a bereaved world