Murderously Disturbed

5. Twisted Love Story (American Cinquain)

5. Twisted Love Story
(American Cinquain)

Prologue

[Spirit]

      The rites
      Must now begin.
      The Sleeper gathers round
      The instruments he must perform
      In trance.

      The knife
      Is held. The blade's
      Sharp edge is used to cut
      Each finger on both hands, so they
      Bleed through.

      The words
      Are set in blood
      Upon the paper with
      The name and date of his lost love
      On it.

      In deep
      Dark trance, he sets
      The candle on the floor,
      Then kneels, then holds the unlit match
      And strikes.

      So done,
      He holds the match.
      The candle flickers up
      Into a flame. The message starts
      To burn.

      Before
      The flame dies down,
      The Sleeper goes to bed,
      So that he can complete the rite
      In sleep.

      So now
      He drifts to sleep
      And dreams he is inside
      His bedroom, where his practiced words
      Invoke:

[Sleeper]

      "I now
      Invoke your aid
      To find my love and shed
      My tears of mirth and grief for her
      Sweet smile.

      "Spirit,
      I greet the world
      Of terror, shock and fright
      To meet my long-departed love—
      Awake!"

      And yet,
      When I now ope *
      My eyes to see my room,
      I'm still within this dreaming state
      Of fear.

      For all
      Is mist and fog
      Inside this bedroom dim,
      Which just an hour ago was filled
      With joy.

      Just now,
      My world enfolds
      Itself to sleep and leaves
      This room to things invisible
      To sight.

      Such is
      The state in which
      I now take up my knife
      To still the beatings of my heart
      With blood.

      Beyond
      The mind, a dark
      And footless gate appears
      And opens wide its yawning mouth—
      The void.

      Vast are
      The barren plains
      That dwell there, vaster still
      The inner depths that hold the realms
      Within.

      "What realm
      Beyond the spans
      Of such huge voids exist?
      What greater span than human thought
      Is there?"

[Spirit]

      "The dreams
      Of sleep eclipse
      The length and breadth of time,
      Which slows or stops time's grasp upon
      Our wills."

[Sleeper]

      "What then
      Beyond the span
      Of dreams exceeds such realms?
      What greater span than human dreams
      Is there?"

[Spirit]

      "The realm
      You always dread
      To enter in, the space
      Of nightmares where your fears
      Reside.