25-09-23

I woke up to find a wraith hovering over my bed like I was Don Gately

This is strange, I thought

But not weird

The wraith said–

I’m you from another distant time

A time distant to you

A time you might call the past

How’s the despair?it said

Same old , same old

Probably far worse depending on how distant you are from me

That sounds terrible, the wraith said

You’re me

I’m you

No need for me to put on a mask

You will experience it after all

What about the people

Ha! terrible terrible walking corpses

All of them

Or perhaps it’s I who has become an empty shell and people bubbling with life seem like walking boring corpses.

That sounds horrible, it said

Yeah, I said

But it’s not all that bad.

How so

I mean we have gotten better at writing prose and look here we are, now confident at writing shitty poems

The wraith smiled

Happy Birthday, it said

Happy Birthday, I said

I wondered when I myself would become a wraith

Conjured from the creases of memories past

Haunting my future

Singing curious tunes

How’s the despair, I’ll ask

And he will say What despair?