Fog

 

I have never felt so alone

As the time spent in November fogs

When I was not yet in my teens

Wrapped in heavy clothes

With hat down low

And scarf around my face

 

Cut off from the world

By this dense yellowing cloud

Unable to see more than a few feet

In front of you

And the hollow muffled sound

Of someone heading towards you

 

All other background noise cut off

So that the echo chamber in your head

Heard just the clang of those footsteps

And your own amplified heartbeat

As your imagination drew phantoms

From the tales of old Whitechapel

 

Then they pass

A shadow of bulk and billowed breath

And you hear their echo

Drawing further away

Until they are only a memory

A swirling remnant of ghosts

 

I have never walked

Through that strange land

In recent memory

But its chilling entrails

Have haunted my dreams

Ever since

 

They remind me of my younger self

The future hidden from sight

Just the here and now surrounding

Closing in on all sides

Just the strange future light

Filtered through a heavy veil