21. The Lady in White Lace
The Lady in White Lace is about surviving September 11th on a bus while hands pounded the
glass outside, then returning to a silent apartment with no job, no calls, and a knife at
his wrist — until a ghost appeared in the bedroom doorway, a woman in white lace with no
feet, who waved his hand away from the blade and stayed with him for thirty nights
while a radio played the same song on its own.
By Thomas J. Allen, © 2026
Spoken Word
I came home one night and found
my girlfriend drawing demonic images on paper.
She was cheating on me,
letting the dark back in.
I told her to get out.
I wasn't having any of that anymore,
even though I was not a full Christian yet.
A few days later, the world ended.
I was downtown when the planes hit the towers.
The ferries shut down.
I ran to a purple bus, and the driver told me to get in quickly.
As the doors closed, the first building fell.
A massive cloud of white dust slammed into the bus.
I was standing in the aisle,
watching hands pound against the glass outside,
begging to get in.
But we were full.
He drove us up near Harlem,
over the outer bridge through Jersey,
and dropped us in Staten Island.
I was safe.
But the dread had only just begun.
Verse 1
The city stopped, the job was gone, the phone gave out no ring,
The heavy weight of isolation, the silence it would bring.
Memories of the falling souls, like ash against the sky,
Standing at the kitchen sink, I felt my spirit die.
The silver knife against my wrist, the cold and pulsing strain,
Thinking that the dark had come to crown me with its reign.
Pre-Chorus
Even when you think it's safe, the shadows learn your name,
Waiting for the perfect hour to drag you back to shame.
No one calls and no one cares, a tomb of breath and gloom,
Waiting for the final wound to seal me in the room.
Chorus
The dread of loneliness is hell I wouldn't wish upon another!
Locked inside this silent apartment with no one here but me!
A heavy void, an empty space, the echoes of the fall,
Standing at the bloody edge, with nothing left at all!
Verse 2
Looking toward the bedroom door, standing in the frame,
An 1920s librarian, a ghost without a name.
A white lace shirt, a braided bun, no feet upon the floor,
Looking with a chilling grace that haunted me to the core.
She waved her hand and stayed my hand as I went to slit my wrist,
A mother's deadened tenderness, a phantom kiss through mist.
Bridge
I followed her inside the room, I put the weapon down,
The radio turned on itself, its static like a funeral sound.
A song about a little bird, flying far away,
She held me in a ghost's embrace, cold arms that would not fray.
For thirty nights the song would play, a mother in the dark,
Keeping me from checking out, guarding every spark.
Chorus
The dread of loneliness is hell I wouldn't wish upon another!
Locked inside this silent apartment with no one here but me!
A heavy void, an empty space, the echoes of the fall,
Standing at the bloody edge, with nothing left at all!
But the shadows broke, the light remained, I didn't make the cut,
A ghost of love and white lace pulling back from the edge!
Outro
I never knew who she was. She never spoke a word.
I survived on unemployment, and driving my landlord to his medical checkups.
Just trying to exist.
Then, I got two little kittens, to fill the empty void.
The ghost remained with me. The darkness eventually lifted.
I was still here. The darkness did not win.