Half Lit

Free Verse

You kill the lights  

like a secret

like my face is a crime  

you’d rather not witness.  

I flick them back on.  

*I am here. I am here.*  

But you move in shadows,  

a silhouette of someone  

who loved her better.  

Do I remind you  

of the wrong mouth?  

Sound like the wrong gasp?  

Is that why you touch me  

like a ghost,  

blind and guilty?  

I am no one’s echo.  

I will not be hollowed out  

by your hunger for ghosts.  

Next time,  

leave the lamp burning.  

Or don’t come at all.