My death shroud was in my suitcase
When my flesh stopped haunting you
My spirit had been exorcised years before
Do not mourn
For ghosts cannot die.

Unclench your tightened jaw
You have no fangs to tear and rip
And the dull teeth
Cause more agony.

Heed their howls
Fear the warning
I howled silently at your side
You only heard the screams from below
I knew you deaf, but thought you blind.

I watch these moments last for eons
Seconds like epochs
Breaths like gasps
You tried to drown me in the fish tank
Not realizing I already drowned you in the bath.

You found me again
That trembling sacrificial lamb I was
Let the cycle repeat for you
I refuse to be myself for even another moment
Give someone else a turn.

I stopped looking for your smile
In unfamiliar faces
I have been haunting strangers
Instead of going home.

I am the empty; unknowable
And I pray that if you reach for me
Your hands will slip
And fumble
Like feeling for a light switch
In a dark and unfamiliar room.