The Ghosts We Keep Inside Us

I collect people
because I don’t know how
to say goodbye
even after our last goodbye
I invite them to stay
a while

the ghosts I keep inside me
rent little cobweb-laden rooms
for free
I know it costs me something
but I can’t bear the price
of forgetting
the lessons they taught along the way

every now and then
I invite them to come out of the darkness
and into the light

we sit down
they remind me why I loved them once
I guess I always will
they remind me why it’s ok
for things to end

I thank them for what they meant to me
and then I let them leave.