Apparition in a Photograph

by J. R. Salling

A gray smudge of restlessness
with animate intentions
forms a delirium not easily classified.

Gentle friction tests the fixative.
Unrestricted by anticipation,
you trace the error to an inner doorway
detached from its restful sanctum.

Ephemeral image of extreme pallor,
cursed by constraints and obsessions,
suddenly repeats a nocturnal psalm
seizing, mimicking your final words.

What is this malignant stain,
you ask the consuming hollowness,
but your own shadow projected
through a greater lens.