The Flicker Wraith

before the thoughts all static erupt,
beforehand, darkness uncorrupt.
debris hangs in the atmosphere,
remnants of dreams unrealized here.
premonitions give clues unheard.
something is coming but you can't be sure.
the unknown splits horizons,
tasting blood or your own fear.
then comes the thunder,
the flicker wraith is here.
in the strobe of sheet lightning,
or the bobbing of a candles flame,
there is a tale never told,
of when the flicker wraith came.
a soul that perished in faltering light.
can only be glimpsed in fragments of night.
to find yourself alone in a candle-fly swarm,
or on a warm summer night in a lightning storm,
caught in the frames between light and dark,
off in the distance the foxes bark.
afraid of what you cannot even sense.
until it's too late and you are past tense.
snatching you in one frame, you're gone the next,
body left behind just like the rest.
now you exist and can only appear-
in moments when light and dark flicker near.