Sour Ground

Don’t be fooled by antique grace

There’s something lurking in this place.

It has soured both brick and ground,

Inside this place no light is found.

Sure, the wooden stairs are grand

And yes, there’s beauty in the land.

But the dead have claimed it as their own

And day or night you’re not alone.

Should you die before you wake

Worst of all, your soul they’ll take.

So, mirthful child, run far away

Before you have no choice to stay. 

Inside the Haunted House

Close the garden gate against the dead.

Don’t dream of their dark feast.

Though they pound and wail against the glass

Don’t mind them in the least.

Using pity like a velvet cloak

They beg to be let in.

But they envy us our life inside

Like laughing is a sin.

The ancient ones, more calm than most

They are the ones that weep.

When they watch us love or dance and sing

So lost without their sleep.

Those are the ones that break my heart

Because they are not cruel.

Still, I kept the hounds of hell outside

I was not a fool.

Be so wise, do not be tricked

They cannot stand a smile.

Someday we’ll join them, so they say

But I’d rather wait awhile. 

Truthful Reflection

                               

I passed by a mirror just last night

And it made me want to cry.

The pain of living as your whore

Is reflected in my eye.

Where once my face was smooth as silk,

A young girl’s mask at best,

Here and there are lines etched deep

They mark my lack of rest.

You aren’t worth what you have done

This mess you gladly made.

The mark of you might plague me now

But one day your ghost will fade.

I will grow strong and I’ll let go

Cut all ties with you.

Because there is no one that will break me

As you are trying to do. 

Trying to Protect

Sleep, my love, all through the night

Do not rise with dawn’s harsh light.

When they get wind that you’re awake

You’re broken soul they’ll come to take.

Just listen to the war drum’s song

If you can’t tell that something’s wrong.

I know the sun is in your eyes

But my sweet man, you cannot rise.

Because I’m not ready to let you go

To endure such pain, no one will know.

And once you’re gone I cannot stay

To protect your body where it lay.

So listen close, do not be brave.

Just rest within my cold black cave.

And when they come I’ll fight for you.

If you must go then I’ll come too.

In death, then, if not in life

I will remain your faithful wife. 

Praying for a Storm

                                             

The leaves won’t stop their constant dance,

The rain plays hard along.

But there’s danger in the air tonight

This is no calming song.

I sit outside my window’s ledge

A blanket wrapped around

Praying for a silent end

But hearing thunder’s sound.

I’m terrified of nature’s wrath

The threat outside my door.

Yet I am oddly too intrigued

To not wait here for more.

As the water breaches my high brick wall

The world is drowning quick.

So I’ll wait for death or signs of life

Upon my fortress thick.

All Hallow's Eve

Twilight gleams across the sky

The sign that night is near.

I stand with flowers for the dead

Pushing back my fear.

Scatter them up to the wind

Sing a little chant

Hope the dead will rest at last

Even though I can’t.

All Hallow’s Eve, a festive time

Yet I’ve never felt so lost.

I know I yearn to see the truth

Regardless of the cost.

So I’ll kiss the wind that hits my face

And pretend that it’s my love.

Last year he held me so damned tight

Now he haunts me from above.

He had to die, he had to go

To a place that’s bright and warm

But I highly doubt my loving arms

Aren’t preferred to the greedy worm.

In a coffin he lays now

Instead of in our bed.

And it’s for him that I spend this time

Saying prayers for the dead.

The Delusional One

The road to hell is paved in gold

And a heart once warm cannot turn cold.

I pity you these child’s dreams

Nothing here is what it seems.

That man’s smile hides a frown

What’s right side up is upside down.

Love is having tea with Hate

And Jesus Christ is courting Fate.

This is the place you go to see

Most of life’s a mystery.

Not one damned thing is cut and dry

Every saint has told a lie.

And every sinner once was sweet

Can’t you tell such things in those you meet?

Take the blinders off at last

For every present there’s a past.

I have one and so do you

These are things that you once knew.

Get off that horse that stands so tall

Before upon hypocrisy you fall.

To break your neck for pride’s own sake

Would be your worst and last mistake.