And I should like to lead you
Room by room
Through this place I know by heart
We don’t have to stay
I can’t hold my breath for long.
But will you walk beside me with my hand in yours
Back out into the bright world
After you’ve been within these walls
where I was built and destroyed?
I may leave again bleeding.
He said to the muse
Down, down
Down the seventh stair where it creaks and echoes and frightens the children who are too afraid to sleep—
Nightmares have known these rooms
Eggshells underfoot
Illuminate the exits
This is the place where things break
And remain broken.
Tiny lonesome pleas for rain to drown
This old familiar silence
The first scream in the first halls.
Infinity beats per minute
As children do
Trying to run swiftly and silently from an unnamed monster.
Where am I?
I couldn’t see you in the dark.