Perjured Beauty

A long time ago there lived a boy

Who never looked into a mirror.

He didn't want to see himself

As his face filled others with fear.

He desperately wanted a sole companion,

A friend to help keep him sane.

However he'd rather remain alone

Than have a friend who shared in his pain.

Soon he came up with the perfect plan

With a cunning, diabolical grin.

He'd reclaim people's wasted beauty and

Make a beautiful friend from their skin.

It was a dreary night that he'll remember,

A night when he shed no tears,

As throughout the dusk and gloom he preyed

On the Vain he caught looking in mirrors.

Stealthily in the darkness he traveled

Roaming like the shadow of a Wight;

A dark hand reaching out from the shadows

Cleansing the world of their blight.

He took them all home, took them into his lair

He dare not leave any traces.

Through means unknown, the horror began

As he peeled back their cold, pallid faces.

Through mediums both arcane and strange,

He built a makeshift frame.

The parts were all so beautiful

But his friend was sans a brain.

A convulsive twitch and a hideous moan,

His grotesque new life was flawed.

Creation's glory faded away

Because its beauty was just a facade

The boy drew back and held his breath

At the sight of his living necropolis.

He retched amidst the stench of death,

He saw beauty without all its complements

With fitful spurts of motion,

The creature his master sought

And spoke with voices legion

In a tone with anger fraught.

You were a silly fool to think

That you could master this power.

Tampering with what's God's alone

Leads to consequences dour.

Your desires started honorably,

Your friend was born from need,

But you stole his beauty from others

Because your heart was ruled by greed.

You bound us all in chains of flesh

Inside this cursed frame.

You robbed us of our own free lives,

And We became too terrible to name.

When the creature was finished speaking,

It moved its hand with tact.

It struck with demoniac speed

And everything went black.

As the light returned and the boy came to,

His head felt split asunder.

He sat up and surveyed the room and

realized his massive blunder

He had never seen a mirror

But he knew those had been his eyes

All the hateful slander

Was nothing more than lies

He cried and wept and gnashed his teeth

When he saw his gorgeous frame,

The creature had made use of him

To replace its missing brain.

His lesson was learned, his sentence earned,

To wander alone was his duty.

He'd walk the Earth forever spurned,

As a reminder to value life's beauty.