She came in laughing, red eyes warm, Armor all crooked, heart still worn. Called me Bear with a sailor’s grin, Said, “Show me the fight that burns within.” Her joy was a spark in the salted gloom, Turned my fever to a flower in bloom. Every scar forgot its pain, When her puppy laugh broke the chain. Oh, ghosts and girls, they find me still, One with a smile, one with a chill. The living hold me, the lost unveil Love’s a tide I cannot sail. Illcia’s fire, Ruutia’s storm, Two hearts rough-hewn, fierce and warm. They stitched their courage into my skin, Swore the world would never win. We were laughter in the gods’ decay, Drunk on dreams, too proud to pray. But even joy had a shadowed face, A silver ghost I couldn’t erase. Oh, ghosts and girls, they haunt my bed, One breath of life, one word unsaid. The sea remembers what hearts conceal Love’s a wound that will not heal. Moon-silver hair, eyes full of tide, Whispered my name from the other side. Said, “I was always here, my flame,” Then vanished, soft as she came. The fever broke, the night grew thin, I saw her ghost behind my skin. Every touch from the living burned For the dead had finally turned. Oh, ghosts and girls, they call my name, The warmth, the loss, it feels the same. If I fall again, let the sea be kind To ghosts and girls I leave behind.
