Secrets of October Nights

It haunts-

lurks in my bones 

as a shiver goes up my spine like a xylophone

Cold bleaches my skin

breathes hard as I wander among the dark

my shadow gone,

a silent death. 

I walk towards a tree in the distance,

slouched as its vines give in,

tired of existing in this falsified abode

I see the roots

they lie forgotten like a faded photograph.

Yet I find myself struggling to move-

the tree’s roots wrap around my ankles like a witch’s hand,

Bony-

yet they usurp me in ribbons of silent fear.

 I feel the life draining from my legs-

they tremor like shivering leaves in the autumn wind

everyone’s blood is black

some  stain easier than others

some are easier to see in the noctivagant

where the darkness’s blanket rips,

and the menacing roots are exposed

put alongside the night’s abode.