Interloper

Please leave. But also, please stay.

Interloper

How dare you come around here!
An uninvited interloper
taking up space in my brain
crowding my thoughts so I can’t hear
the voices in my head.

So, too, have you a hold of my heart
gripping with a trespass so intense I no longer trust
its very rhythm.
While it beats to sustain me
its melody is yours.

And what would they tell me
my voices, my heart?
Surely to evict you at once! To cease
these foolish games.
Still, nightly you invade my sacred sleep
(and also my waking hours)
a perpetual prowler intent on his heist.
Yet I do nothing, unwilling to cry for help
(nor admit it might be needed).
Mesmerized by your stealth
held captive by your cunning
I think I’ll let you stay a while.