the hidden lantern

I walk where echoes weave the ground,

yet no foot falls, and none are found.

A flame unseen attends my way,

it feeds on night, it hides from day.

The walls are wide, though close they seem,

each stone a gate, each crack a dream.

A ceiling hums with distant skies,

the stars look back through borrowed eyes.

They say the lantern holds no fire,

a vessel dim, a fool’s desire.

Yet still it glows, though none can see—

its light is mine, its night is free.

One day, these veils will turn to mist,

what’s bound will fly, what’s clenched be kissed.

And those who search for shape or sign

will lose the path, but not the rhyme.