the lanterns gloom

The Lantern’s Gloom

Through misty streets, where shadows glide,
Beneath the moon’s cold, ghostly tide,
A lantern swings with faintest gleam,
As if to guard a forgotten dream.

Its flame, though pale, still flickers on,
A final spark before the dawn.
But in the gloom, where darkness waits,
It trembles at the midnight gates.

The hour is late, the air is still,
The heart beats slow against its will.
For something stirs within the night,
A nameless dread, beyond the light.

The lantern’s glow begins to fade,
A sign that life will soon degrade,
And in the dim, a figure stands,
With shadowed face and outstretched hands.

No word it speaks, no breath it takes,
But in its wake, a silence breaks.
The flame goes out, the dark expands,
And death takes hold with silent hands.

What once was bright, now cold as stone,
The lantern lost, the path unknown.
And in the black, where none can see,
I felt the night devouring me.

Oh, how we cling to fleeting light,
In hopes to hold back endless night—
But in the end, the lantern dies,
And we are left with hollow skies.