Ghosts in the Room

by joetwo

I see them sometimes

A glimmer, shadows in the corner of my eye

As if I were seeing reflections in the window

I always accept it at first

As if they were meant to be there

As they always had been

But I quickly do a double-take

And they disappear

Leaving the room, and my soul

Empty again

On good days

I dismiss it there and then

My mind playing tricks again

On bad days

I am back in my private hell

A seeming eternity

Waiting for a wife and child who will never return

Except for ghosts in the room

Vestiges of what was lost