This poem is part of the series:
On The Establishment, Care, and Maintenance of Personal Social Parameters
The Strange Case of the Fallen Guard
This is the way of things:
I recognise you, and
react towards you,
and interact with you,
in this manner.
Through a series
of mind tricks, I am aware,
but do not react
to the person you present me.
Seeing you for what you are
forces me to hide.
The mind structure is tower-like,
but not a Disney castle,
more like Bran Castle
on a dark and stormy
All Souls’ Night.
I have arranged complex schedules
for the guards:
never look within the rooms
never open the doors
be deaf and heedless
to strange whisperings,
and,
stay alert.
We may speculate on why the guard slept:
too tired for too long?
spite and the hatred of a boring job?
Or had he perhaps always known
he would sleep.
Speculation does not change the fact:
when the guard was fallen
the truth of our relationship escaped,
and things were never the same.
