My Gothic Verses
THE DARK ONES
Blessed be
The dark ones
Misfits
Death is an invitation
To the dance
Death is a challenge
To live now
No compromise
Blessed be
The dark ones
Dance
But don't submit
LADY DESIRE
Batwing'd descending
Unbidden she
A word and a breath
In my ear
Sidelong I see
At the corner of desire
...Leather metal-bristling
...Amber flowing
...Tooth and nail
...Abandoned toys
She on my shoulder
Urges the forbidden
And embraces the dread
THE RED AND THE BLUE
(Dance Floor, 11:45PM)
The red and the blue
Capture her hair
Heartbeat
Of the music
Ripples the black lace
Of her dress
One of the shadows
Fully aware
Magic
In the rhythm
And the abandon
Of her dance
IMMORTAL ONE
Weary afoot
Cresting the mountains
I feel the coming storm
Gaping ahead
Cave mouth before me
Dark and dry if not warm
Deep inside glows
Off jagged stone jaws
Cold light of unseen fire
Nearing the flame
Beyond is revealed
Dark form on unlit pyre
Shrouded in black
Regal of visage
He lies cold and alone
Warming my hands
Over the brazier
Watching he on the stone
In dark and still
A sound in my ears
Breaks my reverie then
A muffled pulse
Like faint drum in cloth
Beats again and again
Riveted now
The pulse grows and grows
Now my vision grows black
As though my soul
Were falling in step
Ne'er to find its way back
Certain am I
The man on the bier
Draws me to his embrace
Throbbing along
With heart that beats not
My life ransoms his place
Summon my will
Seizing a hot brand
Immolate the dark beast
Consumed by flame
The form disappears
Yet I feel not released
Out of the dark
Back over the hills
Look down over my home
Charnal-house scene
Cities laid barren
Lie now where'er I roam
DESTINY
Dark marble floor
Echoes
To the sound
Of no one
Torches extinct
Darkness
In the place
Of revels
See the King there
Smiling
From a skull
Without flesh
A destiny
Visits
Silently
In the night
Sleep of the drunk
Invites
Knives without
Plague within
Blood-filled the halls
Redeemed
Vacant chains
Of the slaves
Destiny fells
Monarchs
In their pride
In their blood
THE HOUSE OF LAEMMLE
Boris of the gravelled tones.
Bela, continental, haunted.
Lon, a thousand faces he.
These the giant figures bygone.
Sly and shy and scant of gore,
Remnants of a purer era.
Yet the while a time of blood
Which in Europe's fields did flow red.
Men of Europe steeped in death,
Drawing from a past of monsters
Loosed by warfare, painted dreams,
Visions of immortal murders.
Now the black and white seems quaint
And we watch detached and placid
These now-tamed grotesqueries
Bred and nurtured in a nightmare.
FAIRYTALES END
An incandescent moment
Heel slips into glass slipper
Glass coffin thrown open--
Magic, and sealed with a kiss
After the magic and the bliss
As the trumpets fade
And the banners lose their hue--
What of a fairy princess then?
Scattered moments of delight
Fights and forgiveness
A long campaign of compromise--
Bittersweet the ever-after
Tho' the colors seem so muted
And the sunlight half so bright
The glory will still be savored--
And the price is an ordinary life
ENCOUNTER
Alone in the dark
Scanning street lamp gold
Listen
Hear
Clip clip of footsteps
Approaching
Hesitate
Silhouette ahead
Tall dark figure
Moving closer
Search the dark for hints
Danger?
Look about
No one else
Closer still
Still a racing pulse
Flicker of eye contact
Almost passing
Alley mouth
Moment of truth
Decide
Senses explode into fullness
Two glances meet
Explosion of violence
Pulled to the ground
In shadow
I tear at his throat
And nourish
Unseen
Once more
ONLY TEMPORARY
Clinging to the unspoken dream
Desperately measuring the hours
And the days
Until the transformation
When the chrysalis bursts
The day the swan emerges
(regard the present with dread)
(fight the welling certainty that youth has fled)
(the onrushing end)
(soul rebelling)
(inertia crushing)
"Hope springs eternal"
Time remains to recapture
The ideal
To reawaken the senses
To energize the soul
To spit in the face of oblivion
(gamble the future on a passing here-and-now)
A CLUB DANCER (SHE IS)
She is:
Perfect and serpentine
Silhouette and shadow
Moving in perfect harmony
Above the crowd
Leading the dance
Floating free
A vision in a shifting gown
Defiant and inviting
The spirit of the sound
A VISION
River is blood
And sky is fire
White palace dreams
With marble spires
Aloof and the source
Of it all
With bag of tricks
And eyes aglow
Steps from his boat
Calling to Crow
His companion
Dark man comes
GOTHIC THUNDER
"Fireworks"
Cascade down
Arches and columns
Echo through the
Shadow and shimmer
The floor
Resounds with
Drumbeats and dancers
Phantom army
Marching to daybreak
To steal their dreams
BLACK WIDOW
Reach and then curl
In the
Dark and twirl,
Riding the ebb
And flow
Of your web
Into my soul.
Your dance
Takes control
And caresses
My taste
For excess,
Drawing me in.
Your sweat
And your skin
Bind completely,
Then you
Devour me.
THE FURTHEST REACHES OF THE WORLD
I see her moving
At the furthest reaches of the world
As the rhythm takes me
And my soul descends into the void
Like an eruption
From the otherworlds into the night
She beckons me
But never graces the shifting light
I slip away
Broken to fragments by pulsing drums
There she remains
A spectral lifeline back to my home
OBSCURED BY THE LIGHT
Obscur�d by the light
In faery-shifting banks of color
Silhouettes and puppets
Phantoms and a top hat
Crowning one lone vampire
Resplendant and protected
In his sunglasses after dark
Seethe and shimmer in the mist
Obscur�d by the light
I haunt the shadows carved by pillars
Drinking in their dreaming
Dancing and revealing
Disregarded watcher
Reverent and protected
By the carnival of lights
CHILD OF FANCY
Here comes the rain
Again in her heart
And the black light
Shining in her eyes
Child of fancy
Spinning in the light
And the darkness
Beating in her soul
SAMANTHA SURVIVES
Samantha faces now
The final curtain
In her eyes live
Defiance and denial
Her body yearns
For passion
And her lips sing
Choruses of life
The curtain
A sword of Damocles
Hangs above her now
And she protects
Her death
From interlopers
Seeking now
To make it hers alone
SHADOWS CAGED
Shadows caged and
Frozen deep
Locked in thrall
To mist and sound
Ransom held
By mistress strict
And unrelenting
One dark angel
Leads the escape
Reaches the sky
Mounted
Mounting high
On fragile wings
Of rhythm
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