The bubbles in the kettle begin to pop, and steam evaporates from the lip of my mug. You appear as a silhouette in the doorway; a phantom whose existence is always felt. To describe you any other way would be to hurt myself, because I would have to admit you frighten me. You make me wonder how long you’ll keep this hold over me – whether time will lessen the pinch of the shackles biting into my wrists.

Yet I see no wounds cut deep into my flesh. You remain a silhouette. A grim shadow I cannot forget nor stifle with the light I caught perilously close to the edge. This light isn’t enough for the both of us and I do not wish to give all of myself over to your bitterness, which accompanies the darkness.

In response to day 24: silhouette, #rainasmprompts

Poem: © Kristiana Reed 2019

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