Seeing Red

A Poem

Photo by Denis Sebastian Tamas on Unsplash

in the twilight of my synapses,
i saw the red glow on the horizon —
and i thought it was for me
(but it wasn’t, it wasn’t)

snapping jaws of wolves,
a hundred thousand screams,
a missive unwritten —
oh, we think we know

but we don’t

i’m just a bard of little renown,
cast in a lot of unhappy endings,
and i see the wind before the willows
(and i think i’m better off not knowing)

nobody thought to know me,
no one cast me in a better light,
no one thought to ask me —
what would you do if you could?

and i’m a person
(aren’t i, aren’t i, aren’t i) —
and i’m a person
(aren’t i, aren’t i, aren’t i) —

and i thought i knew you
(but i didn’t, did i) —
and i thought i knew you
(but i didn’t, did i) —

but i stand, accused,
and don’t know what to say
as if there were any other words to utter…