Ghost

Did you see me?

Traces

clues

signs you were close.

But you’ll never reach me

you can’t catch a ghost.

One step ahead

the footprints you find.

Where I last bled

was two steps behind.

I can run

I can hide

I create spaces

no one can find.

I have to keep running

I have to be a ghost.

If not I’ll be something

you won’t want to know.

So chase the me

you think you know

but all that you’ll see

is a whisper—his ghost.

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On the surface, this poem is about someone running. They are being pursued by someone who knows them, and the narrator seems to mock their efforts. They state that, even if they are caught, they won’t be the same person their pursuer knows. Yet, to my understanding, the narrator is leaving clues and even encouraging them to follow.

On a deeper level, this poem is about someone who knows their darkness, fears it, and is trying to escape it. As they run, they change and shed more of themselves in an effort to leave it behind. This is clarified in the last two stanzas, as the narrator explains that if they stop moving—stop changing—they will be “something you won’t want to know.” While there is some truth to this, I believe it undermines the impact of grace and the imperfection that plagues the entire human race. No one is perfect and no one ever will be; in order to live with ourselves we have to accept that we are on a journey—never complacently accepting what we are, but knowing that we are a work in progress. We have to keep moving and keep changing for the better, but we also need to slow down and let people in. We need to find the people we can trust and be open with them. Otherwise we’ll always be running, a ghost of who we were a day ago. We’ll always be changing, but it might not be for the better.

Hope Mixes

—The Translator