KILLING THE SHADOWS

I utterly and willingly immerse both mind and soul
with the consuming bath from the rivers of crimson and alabaster lights
which stream through the night's endless highway
while racing passed all darken quagmires in lucre edifices
and other equally entombing forms
holding so many lives prisoner
through their chattel chains and enslaving handcuffs of needs.

Inside, is where all the screaming ghosts hide
who I can sense are calling my name in haunting inner echoes
as their voices serpentine and slither in quivering ripples
of invitation that seek to trap my conscious and senses
as they create their macabre visions of imprisoning death shrouds
to draped my mind as their muffled wails of petitions and pleas
desperately groaned to the elusive Lord of the impossible
that he might somehow send a genie as deliverer.

Allowing the neon flashes along the road to silently swallow my world
I reluctantly become transfixed by its artificial electronic rainbow streaks
trying so hopelessly to allow the fleeting illumination
a chance to be my escape from all the sunlight's shaded ogres of fears
any day's trauma can cover over my waking and desires.

Heading towards a bend in the path I've chosen
my essence burns with the hope that one more turn
will finally bring a sweet and merciful truce
in my duel with sorrow futility spent
killing the shadows.