In a dream you visited me wearing the face of one I once adored. We walked hand in hand through a rough shod wilderness, amongst lush green trees and verdant hills where a winding pathway meandered like the moments of wonder we so often shared.

Our conversation was lively and meaningful, romantic and enrapturing and you wore a smile so dazzling it could blind the sun. We were so close I could sense your warmth pressed against me and I felt at ease with the comfort you brought me.

The sky was leaden; clouds formed a natural apse cast in ribbons of shredded paper and washed down with every shade of stormy, water colour blue. Light pierced the swirling ceiling and winds shaped the vastness into a baroque canopy.

As we walked your face changed to another familiar, moving my emotions to a state of confusion which I could not shake. You stopped and turned to me, asking me a question I never thought I would hear pass your soft, inviting lips.

I hesitated, frozen and embarrassed; not knowing where to put myself. I could not requite for my love is reserved for another heart which mirror's my own.

As I found the courage to reject you I felt the world change; our baroque cathedral gently dispersed on the wind and with it you faded into a dusty memory.

I awoke with a sense of unease, unsure as to what had happened so vivid was the experience. You were as real and tangible as these words, as the heavy clouds which pass overhead on a hot July afternoon where the sea meets the land; as incongruous as rain that chills on a summer afternoon.

You are a siren luring me away from everything that I know to be right and true; guiding me into troubled waters where I have swum before when magnetised by your intoxicating song. And yet the intoxication is less appealing today, your spell has lost its fragrance and potency and my resistance to your devious ploys is growing ever higher.

You are here to destroy me, of this I am sure, yet you are a vital part of my journey for without you I would have nothing to keep me straight and balanced, nothing to strengthen my resolve against temptation. I thank you for being there and leading me astray so many times past because every deviation has put me on a wider path to my final destination – a home at peace within this vessel.

I heed the quiet voice that has never steered me wrong, that tiny whisper beneath your flamboyant showmanship. While you parade and invade my mind with images and thoughts of bounties great, it walks calmly beside me like a wise old grandparent who loves me unconditionally and gently leads me towards higher spiritual ground.

One day you will be nothing more than a photograph; silent and still, no longer able to articulate your evil machinations in any meaningful way and every moment I spend ignoring you is a moment closer to that day.

Sleep well dear ego while I walk my true path.