Here I stand
atop a narrow path of stone
without fissure, crack, or chip.
On my left, an unforgiving fall
into sea green and grim.
On my right, a mirror image
of this two-sided cliff.
Long is the walk to a prison castle.
Its stone in constant shadow.
Ominous is the air above its walls.
My love, by rock and metal bar encaged.
Chains upon flesh, bar across door.
Guarded by monsters living and dead.
The cursed, the condemned, the evil reborn.
Come has the wind's wrath
and the sea's spray
mixed into bitter brew
battering against my body.
One look, into the final fall,
one look, upon them with sunken eyes,
discolored oozing flesh,
and stone-piercing claws,
climbing higher and nearer
up the cliffside.
Pelting rain from dismal clouds.
Unnatural lightning flashes
in vermilion and putrid orange,
illuminating dreadful, haggard faces
staring down from the angry sky.
Dread of what is still to come.
Dread of failure and of these eyes
looking never again
on my beloved wife.
Dread beaten back,
to be taken up
by someone
lacking my unwavering heart.
Into storm, into fury.
Forward, Forward
YOU ARE READING
Light and Darkness
PoetryLight and Darkness is a broad collection of adventure, fantasy, love, nature, and a few sci-fi poems. It is a journey through misty and flower-swept landscapes to the far reaches of the universe.
