A Figure In White

steps up to a strange castle

home of dogs but not man

dogs watching but not calling

staring but never confronting

she lived on the edge of the bog

trapped by the forest

a single path in

trapped past the path

a knight called Sleep

came upon me

and i could not pass back

Sleep came for me

and i could make no move against It

unarmed, Sleep put a finger on me

and i passed out of light

hitting the ground

and coming back up

in an upside down world

the world was dark but i could see everything,

in myth they called this the Gloom

to see nothing but to see it for miles

like a negative image, dark and silver

the world was dark and silver

and Sleep was nowhere in sight

but i feel Sleep was all around

the world was a twin to my own

and so i tried to head back across the path

between the forest and the bog

but here, on the other side of the mirror

the dogs were men, mute and all eyes

staring but not calling

not a move to threaten me,

just to watch

in the edge, in the distance

a figure in white

appeared and vanished in the corner of my eye

when i looked there was nothing

but i followed just the same

towards the castle

but in its stead the castle was a small frail shack

made of bent willow and birch

it looked as though it would have flown apart if i touched it

but even with the low shudder and echo of freezing winds

it stood as sturdy as brick

i passed through the side

for it had no doors

and inside the figure in white

stood

it was a pale young woman

and she said nothing

and i said nothing

the air moved through me

and with a flutter of my eyes

the figure in white

appeared from behind

while she stood before me

and pressed a frozen twig of a finger

into my temple

and like a knife i saw pure white

and cried out in pain

and as swift as ever

i was back from the Gloom

and beside the bog as before

far from Sleep

but i stood before a blackened hag

as bent as birch twigs

as fluid as strands of willow

and dead silent

and there i stood not a man

but a dog

beside the other dogs

silent and staring

the hag vanished

leaving us to wait

as still as the tomb

and there i stand

waiting along the path

between the bog

and the forest

and here i will stand

and wait