In The Dark

Sleepy and Pacino-like
Zombie stiff walk
A needle in his hand
Dead goons at his side
Trawling the streets

A little room
With rattly doors
A woman in scarves
With two young girls
Huddling close

A young boy in blue slacks
Kicking balls in the barren park
Some lads at the basket court
Flashing sweaty torsos and calves

Young women at the drive-in
Nursing Long Islands and smokes
Spinning talks of French kisses
Sharing the latest on men tales
Celebrating young womenhood

Chaos and panic
All a helter-skelter
As he walks into the block
Zeroes on the boys
As they scamper as mice
Away from the dead eyes

The boy in blue slacks
Dashes away
Down the path which
Houses his friends

I see them
Coming down the block
Chasing a kid across the park

I want to run
To try and get away
But she will stay
With the older woman
She will not leave her alone
And I will not leave her there

I want to pull them out
Make them run with me
But she believes
Angels will tread
Where zombies run amok

The doors, I whisper sharply
Too clumsy to bolt
Only a good rattle away
From leaving us open

Under the darkening sky
Danger and evil dead lurk
Paralysing good intentions

The women wish me gone
A final apologetic hug;
I wait for the inevitable
They walk in; I walk out
Move aside breathlessly; But I am safe
Dead eyes see straight lines
As they make for the inner door
I slither away, noiselessly
Bolt into a run

Me and him
Tearing down the blocks
One of them – it sees us
Panicked, drenched in fear
Finding air in adrenaline

He is beautiful
I never saw him thus
There is beauty in despair
In survival; in battle
Hope twists portals
Bends universe to your will
I will to live; to see
The end of this line; this thought

We are good; saved
By a swing of eyelids

They are closed in; in a glassed mall
Who did that?
No head nor tail to events
Only it was wished for;

A hand over my shoulders
My smile shifts the clouds
It is her; She is there

We are three; solace multiplied

But I left her alone
In the darkness of fear

She lived; it was willed for her
The bravery of the drowning

I watch alone
I would be sad
I would leak tears

But for the twitch of eyelids
The ray of light
It is morning
Time to consign
The darkness of dreams
To the closet under the bed
Safe from the world
Free to show me myself
In the freedom of the night