Black Velvet

A shroud over a body torn

Disguising in the dark ditch –

A sin of living rags –

The quick fix of velvet stitch.

A hood of the dark fabric

Hiding the identity of deceit –

The murderous demon –

The abyssal father calls down to meet.

A blanket of black velvet

Patted with holes of light

Shrouds the death taken,

Robs the innocence of sight.

This dark masquerade

Evil evolved into art,

A ballad to black velvet,

Each player played the part.

Drown

A stream of silver quietly breathes,

Soft touch caressing the shoreline,

Cradling my feet in the shallows,

Securing a starlit shrine.

The water – cold and calm –

Rippling with the slightest shift,

Suffocating me with fluid cushions,

Watch an ashen aviator slowly drift.

The river speaks and calls:

An invitation to go down,

To which I accept –

And happily drown…

The Belfry

Repeating visions in my mind:

Are they dreams?

Or are they deadly premonitions,

A future tearing my reality at the seams.

The blinded sight of the dark belfry:

Hidden by stars and surrounding blackness,

An ominous tower of midnight stone,

Waiting to strike from the darkness.

Bells ring a soundless noise,

Heard only by those who cannot,

Calling them forth,

Answers these wanderers sought.

And so forever they roam,

Hearing what cannot be seen,

The mischievous elusive Tempter

Commanding the night over land unclean.

The hooded torturer inside the belfry

Pulls hard on the chains of the bell

Denying seekers permission to see

Living in a personalized hell

But the man in the cloak,

The evil spirit and belfry master,

Is the aged reflection of my mirror

Turned a deadly jester.

Is this the end of my path?

Is the right-hand safer than the left?

Is this a simple nightmare

Or will my soul become victim to theft?

The Phoenix

The majestic phoenix inside

Is but a frail thing,

It can succumb to old age

And wither away to nothing.

As long as it resides within

It shines with fiery intensity,

Bestows a light of warmth

And bequeaths mercy.

But if fate cloaks the phoenix

In a shroud of shadows,

Is forgotten or left alone,

Its ashes become a sea of sorrows.

With a single word or simple stare

The phoenix can be annihilated -

With a single word or simple stare

The phoenix can be reignited.

It can go missing but never lost,

It can grow dark but never cold,

Hopes and dreams keep the ashes ready

For you to return and break the mold.