The harsh cry of the alarm ringing in my ears

I rise through currents of uneasy slumber.

Pushing through sheets tossed in restless waves

To drag myself from the empty ocean of my bed

Onto the bleak shore of the lonely day.

Move on.

Cold tiles underfoot, I reach the shower...

Visions of glowing skin through steam,

Hungry lips and fingers in the wet heat.

Soaped bodies locked in sinuous passion

Sliding together to a lathered crescendo

As husky whispers promised forever...

Now nothing but a glass box of emptiness 

Under the sterile, fluorescent glare.

No more.

I turn away, retreat. Pull clothes from drawers.

Dress quickly, carelessly. Dismiss the ghosts

Locked in loving embrace by the door,

Lips brushing gently, fingers entwined.

Just go.

A hasty coffee swallowed down,

Bitter as the memory of crashing plates

As urgent lust turned table into makeshift bed

Where desire was consumed till we were sated,

Knotted together in a jumble of fumbled clothes.

Get out! 

From the peg in the hall I grab a coat and flee,

Ignoring the lovers at the threshold,

The whispered admonition to, "Take care, be safe"

Heard from a lifetime away.

I run.

A slate grey day in the world outside.

All around the everyday continues.

Mundanity grinding ever onward, 

Indifferent faces cold and stark

Against the grey of drab normality.

Shuffling through their endless motions,

Unheeding of the broken soul that moves

Blighted and lost among them,

Haunted by apparitions of yesterday,

Condemned to wander in shadow,

The only colours the bright ghosts of memory

That dance forever out of reach and time.