don't expect a text back

i would rather my absence haunt you.

When you close

your eyes in a deep,

fitful slumber

I want you to know

I am the thing that gets under.

Under

your lids,

under your skin,

the thing that chokes the breath

from your lungs

and clenches your heart.

I am that which makes you shiver

And wake with a start.

I am the words

that you hear

In the moments between

that haunt you like some

half remembered dream.

I am the nightmare,

I am what is within,

I am the one that you could have loved

But you chose not to begin.

You chose yourself

over again

And it wasn’t just you

This wasn’t the first time.

You are not original

This was not the first crime

against me.

Those who pretended to walk

in the light

and open the door

those who stood in my shine

and held their hand out for more.

I have seen it in the way their eyes

Look out in pictures

seeking my smile

As my image flickers.

My absence is not mild

You have opened

the door

and invited me in

the strength of my spirit

will come for you again.

You will never unsee me.

This….

This was a murder,

a killing spree.

Orchestrated divinely,

lover, friend, or foe?

I had to ask because

I did not know.

Your mixed words

filled me with doubt

I was the one you thought

You could live without.

You held me in your ambiguity

always keeping me just there

You say it was not intentional

And quite frankly,

that was not fair.

You knew what you were doing

You were smart enough to know.

This was entirely

a homicide for show

You thought you got away

scot free

But I am not the one haunted

you see.

I promise you

You will be bewitched

by my eerie glow.

Every hand you try

to replace me with

will fail to reach

as deep below

as my kind words

my good heart.

Your intentions were obscured

from the start,

But it does not matter.

Doesn't it though?

Especially at night

And in the

silence of mourning

As I foretold.

I am the retribution,

I am what you sow,

I am the last you expect

to pull you below.

I may not have been the one,

But I am the one you will yearn.

When you are well and aged

You will finally learn

I am the ghost that haunts you

and the woman

that will never return.

don’t expect a text back, 2025

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Lindsey Rose considers herself a Creative Alchemist. She is an artist, writer, poet, dancer, herbalist, and professional tarot reader. Through the alchemy of creativity, she has found the greatest healing and hopes to inspire others to do the same.

Follow at www.mystikrosearts.com or on YouTube