Winter Ghost (Taking a Time Out) / Will Dockery

Winter Ghost (Taking a Time Out)

I woke up the next morning
with freeze frame memories
locked the door to my room

Stepped out of the
creepy boarding house
into that February gloom

Walked across the park
to that little creek.
I saw Paige across the way
roller skating on the ice.

I had an awareness
of her copper colored eyes.

"Winter Ghost" by P.D. Wilso, 1986

 

interlude

from the days of love and rage.
She smiles through the mist
she turns the page.

It was cold
the sky was grey
I lit my pipe
there was a little spark of flame.

Paige skated over
and sat next to me
by that old abandoned train.

We talked of airwaves and poetry
and a mansion on the hill.

But now everything's changed
I don't even know how
I guess I never will.

Taking a time out
from the love and rage
Paige waves sideways
as she skates away
she turns the page.

It's been forty years now
I went back
and retraced my steps

Walked by and looked
where the old boarding house was
there was nothing of it left.

I walked across the park
to that little creek
I sat down under
that same old tree.
I felt a little tingle
in the air,
I felt like her ghost
was sitting there with me.

Interlude
from the days of love and rage.

Paige smiles at me
through the mist
like a winter ghost
then she fades away.

~~
Will Dockery, 2020
from Shadowville Mythos

[All rights reserved - used with permission]

Will Dockery biography