your face in the smudge

gone when I blink

a form in the static

that's what I think I see

laughing at me

streetlights flicker lik a message

like something trying to appear.

i lean in.

i listen.

i swear there’s meaning here.

lines in the dust like code,

cracks in the glass,

signs left for me to follow-

aren’t they?

pareidolia,

show me what I want to see.

make the shapes align,

make the echoes rhyme,

turn the dark into something I can believe.

pareidolia,

give me something,

something real-

or something

close enough.

figures in the clouds,

stretching, reaching,

just about to speak your name.

the moon wears a hollow grin,

watching what remains of me.

i ask the stars a question,

they scatter like tea leaves.

lines in the dust erasing,

cracks in the glass,

patterns I can't stop chasing

tell me they're real.

please, tell me

you're real

pareidolia,

show me what I want to see.

make the shapes align,

make the echoes rhyme,

turn the dark into something I can believe.

pareidolia,

give me something,

something real-

or something

close enough.

close enough

maybe I don’t need the truth.

maybe I just need something new.

but, If nothing is speaking to me-

then who am I speaking to?

pareidolia,

show me what I want to see.

make the shapes align,

make the echoes rhyme,

turn the dark into something I can believe.

pareidolia,

give me something,

something real-

or something

close enough.

close enough to stop the pain

close enough to fool my brain

In the sky only quiet remains

The wind won’t answer.

The clouds don’t spell your name.

but still—

I watch.

I wait.

Maybe next time,

maybe next time...

Something new will appear, and

I’ll see it clear

in the pareidolia