A HALLOWEEN POEM...

THE STEPS

The thin silvery blade

thrust brutally into me,

piercing flesh and sinew,

and I mounted the stone steps

with a great and heavy despair,

heaving, clawing,

depositing a warm, crimson trail in my wake…

Above me, my world,

my sanctuary;

beneath me, his looming, hideous form,

that sniggering, taunting laugh,

that grim, ghastly voice intoning:

“Dead before you reach the top,

dead before you reach the top,

dead before you reach the top.”

Presently I became enveloped by a pervasive, all-consuming

void,

and it weakened me;

and my eyes faltered;

and, as the steps took me, a vague, distorted image:

my left hand, its feeble digits

against cold, damp stone…

This—this—was my end;

this night,

this place,

and his laugh—it tore through me yet again

as the void gently, inexorably,

stole all that I was,

all I ever was,

all I ever would be.

(Poetry and photography © 2017 by Jim Vines)

Psst. Like a good Hollywood story?

Luigi's Chinese Delicatessen by Jim Vines