the devil's advocate

xix. noctuary ballada

the noctuary ballada begins
with a woman walking into a bar
 (trying to find meaning                   
in a flask)                 

the enchanted chamber
was a place for the alcoholic
                              melancholic
a cathedral made of glass bottles
in the sinister streets
near knockturn alley

gods have ichor in their veins
mortals have iron in their blood
                      but in the moonlight
                      her blood was liquor
                                      (and odium)

maybe if she drank enough firewater
the burning alcohol would substitute
the mud
          in her blood
and make it clean
maybe then they wouldn't claim
           she wasn't made for magic

she raised a hand
another one, please
                leave the bottle

she would drink melted silver
she'd taste poisonous hemlock
and become a modern socrates
            in the name of pureness;
jessamine was tired of her
                        rotten corpse
                         putrid virtue
       she'd drown herself in firewhisky
       to forget a devastating lost lover
                          make it stop
                         please, simon
                          make it stop
                          make it stop
                          make it stop

the garden where they had planted
          roses
               orchids
                    apple trees
                         (everlasting eve)
                      and jasmine flowers
was meant to be their safehouse
in times of war,
  along the way
it had become a slaughterhouse
                      with rivers of blood
                           and pillars of salt

the noctuary ballada begins   
with a man walking into a bar
and finding his seat already taken

you (mud-blood, dirty blood)
what are you doing here?
    jessamine's
bordeaux red
luxurious suit
seemed to be crimson in the dark
he wouldn't have recognised her
               if it wasn't for those eyes
                                 (sidereal abyss)

and jessamine
          (falser than vows made in wine)
answered with a voice
both absent and lucid
both cruel and kind
isn't it obviously?
        (i'm drowning myself in alcohol)
or maybe you're not as smart
            as i expected you to be

lucius sat down near
                  (the mud-blood)
the devil's advocate;
a misplaced noble metal, a bright star
that confused the ocean and the sky
       he asked for a cynical hallelujah
               which made the devil smirk
wow, no witty remark?
           no hex or curse?
           no insult?
i'm disappointed,
           mr. malfoy

      she just wanted
to drink and forget
(simon avar) everything
and yet
she wouldn't despise lucius' company
                                               for the night

the owners
of the enchanted chamber
           (olivia and arsen moore)
never asked questions,
they'd never say a word
                         about the death eater
                         and the mud-blood
sitting side by side
               (side by side)

what inner motive
lead you to sit
besides me
            mr. malfoy?

can't i have
honest intentions
for once?

no

he enjoyed the bitter taste
      of the dry martini's gin
and explained the half of the truth
                                       he believed in
i know the avar family
and i met the twins once
        (in a death-eaters meeting)
        ethan was more cautious
        simon was more cunning
he was the perfect pureblood heir
            he had never disappointed
            he had cursed muggleborn
            he had had killed muggles
                and followed ever order
                (without hesitation)
i'm curious,
why would he betray
his family and his beliefs
to be with someone like you
miss palmer?

lucius should have known
every sin is born from curiosity:
     what would it taste like?
        what would it feel like?
           what would it scream like?
in every human being can be found
the terrible urge to sin
but some      call it vice
and others   call it love

jessamine'd finished
her glass of starlight
she loved how it burned
and hated how it ached
when she looked at him he saw
   an eclipse in her terrible eyes
                                obscured now
with dark intentions
there's no desire as sacrilegious
                          and blasphemous
as the urge to have all that's forbidden
                                          and call it yours

he said
that's absurd

she smiled
is it now?

she moved closer
      and whispered like a devil
trying to corrupt another soul
are you going to tell me
you have never wanted to posses me?
                     even if only to subdue me
                     and taste my rotten blood?

(good God have mercy)

he swallowed and bit back
as jessamine read between the lines
after all, she was a pathological liar
       (it always takes one to know one)

lucius hissed
like a snake
no (yes)
how dare you insinuate that
         (how dare you tell the truth)
you are disgusting
                        (and desirable)
       it's insulting you'd claim
i have the urge to touch you
                         (i do, i do, i do)

jessamine moved a little closer
say that again in the morning
if you dare
her wings would burn
                     (again) and crumble
for daring to touch him
cruel god
deceiving tyrant
                   (lucifer, cain, judas)
but despite that
    that midnight
       rotten blood
                    met silver blood

the noctuary ballada ends
with a man and a woman
          walking out of a bar
(together)