The Ghost In The Room Poem by Murali Sivaramakrishnan

I sensed the struggle in mid-sleep.
Neither in dream nor awakened unease
The flutter and the tremor of misjudged flight
Out of long forgotten lore: perhaps, the last
Moonbeam had relapsed into cold reality-
A solid, earth-like, dreamless ball of truth
And now there was no here nor there
For the shadowless presence. I heard
The walls folding in on the long-distance
Retreat, the floor and the roof in imperfect
Amazement at the sheer geometry of the
Apparition, crumble. Now I see the
Face aghast at the human sight, like
Broken glass-bits in the mid-day sun
Up-bearing the abrupt light. Why don’t
Some owls hoot and dogs howl to suffer
Me to falter and fumble in fake distress
And let my guest out through the open window?
No trees stirred. No blade moved.
The presence faded folding back into itself
Neither here nor there, but all at once everywhere.