Campus

The dead were long gone when I woke
and stood in the velvet stillness festering
under the feeble glow of a fading street lamp
amongst the drooping arms of a bottle brush
crouching low by the green scum pond
like a dog with a bone
worrying over the bench between its feet;
Alive with the rustle and pant
of bodies whispering
moving without needing to see,
real flesh and blood
breathing in the darkness
while I am just a shadow
passing unseen
wet mud sucking at my heels.