Sleepwalkers

• Kayleigh Laine, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2019

they prowl restlessly in the afterglow
waiting for the luminescence of daylight wraiths to recede
these shadow hostages crawl inside themselves to hide
for a skeleton is a homely hearse, a place where one can
suspend all power circuits and silence murmurs to the mind so
broadcast sound waves become muffled silhouettes
known of only in phosphenes through irked irises.
they envy eternal night: eclipses comfort the wilfully oblivious
and they swallow woe only in pills disguised as lullabies.
dusk ushers these sleepwalkers away on sojourn
myopia is the destination of ecstasy, especially
as recurring vertigo bathes illusion in the sound of wind chimes.
they crouch under the kaleidoscope of current affairs
blindfolded by neglect.
their condition is somnambulistic
terminal only while they close their eyes.