A Benevolent Ghost

You’re haunting me.

You, like everyone else
Like the astronaut
Who called on the girl next to me
When my hand was held higher.
Like the man in the movie
Who helped Charlie blast his way
Through the ceiling in a glass elevator
But would never, ever help me.

You’re haunting me like a plague,
Swallowing me like sour beer,
Licking me up from between your fingers
to help clean your newest scrapes.
What is it about blood that’s so
God damn satisfying to you?

You’re haunting me like
You have nothing better to do,
No one better to love,
No other way to sleep at night--
Thinking I’ll understand
If you would just wait till morning.

You’re haunting me:
Like a wicked poltergeist,
Like all the loving mothers I’ve ever met,
Like all the sweetest moments
That we may never have.

You’re a ghost that I’ve only ever seen before
when it’s chained inside of myself.