The Wallpaper Specter

​

by Alex Price

 

Have you ever seen

the wallpaper specter

lurking in the corner of your eye

​

He watches at a distance

scurrying away at risk of discovery

but always there, nonetheless

​

Don't be frightened though

he means no harm

he is more curious than anything

​

He watches and waits

sits and ponders

unable to move away

from the wallpaper

​

Sometimes I sit next to him

and talk

he never speaks, but he listens

​

Until the day I ask him,

"Why?"

To which he turned and spoke,

"This is my home."

​

He spoke simply and naively

"A wallpaper is no home."

I said to him

​

To that he simply shrugged

and sank further into the wall

​

So if you ever see

the wallpaper specter

be kind and gentle

for he knows not

​

that home is not

where you start

but it is

where you end up

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