A large, leaning figure of a man
in tenebrous coattails,
slight and mantis-like,
waits for me
at the end of a long, dark hall.

A phantom,
he does not speak,
yet he allures me
silently,
letting his stillness attest
to his presence.

His featureless shadow of a face
screams silently of hunger,
greed,
a desire for my liveliness--
for my ability to walk freely in the light.