Hide & Seek, cont.

I picked a place and laid there hidden,
A loathsome lair, of eyes forbidden.
A stage was set in years of play,
For hide and seek to pass the day.

“Ready or not!”—a bellowing chant,
My bristled hair behind the plant.
I crouched in silence, breath drawn thin,
And left my world where it had been.

The seeker’s steps grew faint with time,
As ticks and tocks turned into chime.
Did he forget? Has the game ended?
Or did it all go as the seeker intended?

Yet still I lie with pensive poise,
Not a murmur, not a noise.
My world, it whispers soft and slight,
A solace found in fading light.

Sometimes I hear those steps anew,
A ghost of time that feels so true.
My ears alert to every sound—
Is it him? Have I been found?

The game endures, its rhythm stays,
An endless march through shorter days.
I wait in wonder, half a plea:
Could someone be seeking me?

Or have I made my game my home,
A life within the seeker’s roam?