Hauntings

I see the scene of resting that night poorly
The fitful 2:00 a.m. dead of a Madison night
Outside a Lutheran church that felt familiar
Safety there from my childhood fears
A stranger in a strange Midwestern land
See the amber lights flowing over the asphalt lot
Parking myself for little sleep after one long drive
From Oakland into the Heartland so many years
The accumulated ghosts of Honolulu haunting me
Too young to know the truth at that time
How new ghosts keep coming to haunt us more
All of them bulking up in clouds to hover nearby
All the years of my lifetime keep ballooning them
My breathing filling them with the spirit of memory