The Shadow of Death

Lord knows
that on that night did Death sail beside me.
And as I landed upon familiar shores
he followed me and marked my every step,
as I were a hare to his hound
now hunted by an enemy unseen.

In the knowledge of His presence
all are absolved of past transgression,
his dark fingers picking the sin from the sinew
and the hedonism from the heart.
His embrace the last thing
to be felt by a newly-hollowed husk.

My travels through the towns
blurred between sleepless nights,
for when I did dare to rest
he would be waiting in the shade of my sleep.
I fled him for a life time,
once the running boy
now the deadman.

My love is tragic,
for she is unreal and impossible to hold.
My children also shades
simple ideas never realised
in the grip of the Fear.
His smile is in my mind
with his ivory words on the air.