They told me to keep quiet, under the encroaching cobalt shadows of the attic alcove, where
faint whispers begged for sleep. Echoes of a groan, settled like old flights of dust,
tracing the paths behind windowpanes, neglected yet familiar.
Close the lid before someone else knows.
The cracked cupboard oozes regret and wishing bone,
alluring and tyrannical in its sleep. Its handle
anointed in betrayals and the occasional loving touch.
Another language, murmured curses; like thick sieves,
they sift moments unseized in time's delicate grasp.