Creak Poem by Beatrice Preti

Late at night, when I can’t sleep,
I listen to the floorboards creak
Beneath the weight of all the ghosts
Who haunt the dreams I love the most
I see their faces in the dark
Eyes so sad they break my heart
They look at me, but they can’t speak
And so they pace, and floorboards creak
-
I can’t sleep in this house alone
The hinges squeak, and the shingles groan
The ghosts emerge in the dead of night
Fading in and out of sight
I see them there, but I don’t know
What they need, where I should go
So I lie there, curled in my bed,
And watch the faces of the risen dead
-
Soon I will join them, one day I will go
When my story is over, when my candle is blown
And then I, too, might haunt this house
Find another from sleep to rouse
But, until that time, I’ll stare through the night
At the faces who come when I can’t see the light
Though I miss them dearly, they won’t speak
We’ll wallow in silence, until a floorboard creaks