Phantom
A special shadow might reveal much worse,
Much more than just a silhouette of shade
That trails you. It might cast a hex or curse
That clings because of sly mistakes you made
So long ago you thought that you should not
Be punished for them, or the shadow might
Return those memories that you know you ought
To have forgotten. It would never right
A wrong you made deliberately. That dark
Trace there, behind you, would not ease your mind.
A seashore pool it would not be; a shark
More likely, teeth that never could be kind.
Or maybe it would be a smudge of gray,
….Your past reduced to rigid tortured prey.