Gaslight and Shadow

Take my knotted stomach and these frayed nerves,
it all makes a sort of sideways sense
in a world where this never happened
and we never met,
it’s willing suspension of disbelief
and high tension wires,
it’s a dangling life in gaslight and shadow.

These flashes of merriment
signify something, I'm certain of that.
Maybe not here and maybe not today,
but it all means something,
even when the curtain has closed.