THE DARK ONES           

Blessed be
The dark ones
Misfits
Death is an invitation
     To the dance
Death is a challenge
     To live now
No compromise
Blessed be
The dark ones
Dance
     But don't submit

LADY DESIRE

Batwing'd descending
Unbidden she
A word and a breath
     In my ear
Sidelong I see
     At the corner of desire

...Leather metal-bristling
...Amber flowing
...Tooth and nail
...Abandoned toys

She on my shoulder
Urges the forbidden
And embraces the dread


THE RED AND THE BLUE
(Dance Floor, 11:45PM)

The red and the blue
Capture her hair
Heartbeat
   Of the music
Ripples the black lace
   Of her dress

One of the shadows
Fully aware
Magic
   In the rhythm
And the abandon
   Of her dance


IMMORTAL ONE

Weary afoot	
Cresting the mountains	
I feel the coming storm	

Gaping ahead	
Cave mouth before me	
Dark and dry if not warm	

Deep inside glows	
Off jagged stone jaws	
Cold light of unseen fire

Nearing the flame	
Beyond is revealed	
Dark form on unlit pyre	

Shrouded in black
Regal of visage	
He lies cold and alone	

Warming my hands
Over the brazier	
Watching he on the stone	

In dark and still	
A sound in my ears	
Breaks my reverie then	

A muffled pulse	
Like faint drum in cloth	
Beats again and again	

Riveted now
The pulse grows and grows
Now my vision grows black

As though my soul
Were falling in step
Ne'er to find its way back

Certain am I
The man on the bier
Draws me to his embrace

Throbbing along
With heart that beats not
My life ransoms his place

Summon my will
Seizing a hot brand
Immolate the dark beast

Consumed by flame
The form disappears
Yet I feel not released

Out of the dark
Back over the hills
Look down over my home

Charnal-house scene
Cities laid barren
Lie now where'er I roam


DESTINY

Dark marble floor
Echoes
      To the sound
      Of no one

Torches extinct
Darkness
       In the place
       Of revels

See the King there
Smiling
       From a skull
       Without flesh

A destiny
Visits
       Silently
       In the night

Sleep of the drunk
Invites
       Knives without
       Plague within

Blood-filled the halls
Redeemed
       Vacant chains
       Of the slaves

Destiny fells
Monarchs
       In their pride
       In their blood


THE HOUSE OF LAEMMLE

Boris of the gravelled tones.
Bela, continental, haunted.
Lon, a thousand faces he.
These the giant figures bygone.

Sly and shy and scant of gore,
Remnants of a purer era.
Yet the while a time of blood
Which in Europe's fields did flow red.

Men of Europe steeped in death,
Drawing from a past of monsters
Loosed by warfare, painted dreams,
Visions of immortal murders.

Now the black and white seems quaint
And we watch detached and placid
These now-tamed grotesqueries
Bred and nurtured in a nightmare.


FAIRYTALES END

An incandescent moment
Heel slips into glass slipper
Glass coffin thrown open--
Magic, and sealed with a kiss

After the magic and the bliss
As the trumpets fade
And the banners lose their hue--
What of a fairy princess then?

Scattered moments of delight
Fights and forgiveness
A long campaign of compromise--
Bittersweet the ever-after

Tho' the colors seem so muted
And the sunlight half so bright
The glory will still be savored--
And the price is an ordinary life


ENCOUNTER

Alone in the dark
Scanning street lamp gold
Listen
Hear
Clip clip of footsteps
Approaching
Hesitate
Silhouette ahead
Tall dark figure
Moving closer
Search the dark for hints
Danger?
Look about
No one else
Closer still
Still a racing pulse
Flicker of eye contact
Almost passing
Alley mouth
Moment of truth
Decide
Senses explode into fullness
Two glances meet
Explosion of violence
Pulled to the ground
In shadow
I tear at his throat
And nourish
Unseen
Once more


ONLY TEMPORARY

Clinging to the unspoken dream
Desperately measuring the hours
   And the days
Until the transformation
When the chrysalis bursts
The day the swan emerges

(regard the present with dread)
(fight the welling certainty that youth has fled)
(the onrushing end)
(soul rebelling)
(inertia crushing)

"Hope springs eternal"
Time remains to recapture
   The ideal
To reawaken the senses
To energize the soul
To spit in the face of oblivion

(gamble the future on a passing here-and-now)


A CLUB DANCER (SHE IS)

She is:

Perfect and serpentine
Silhouette and shadow
Moving in perfect harmony
Above the crowd
Leading the dance
Floating free
A vision in a shifting gown
Defiant and inviting

The spirit of the sound


A VISION

River is blood
And sky is fire
White palace dreams
With marble spires
Aloof and the source
Of it all

With bag of tricks
And eyes aglow
Steps from his boat
Calling to Crow
His companion
Dark man comes


GOTHIC THUNDER

"Fireworks"
Cascade down
Arches and columns
Echo through the
   Shadow and shimmer
The floor
Resounds with
Drumbeats and dancers
Phantom army
   Marching to daybreak
To steal their dreams


BLACK WIDOW	

Reach and then curl
In the
Dark and twirl,
Riding the ebb
And flow
Of your web
Into my soul.
Your dance
Takes control
And caresses
My taste
For excess,
Drawing me in.
Your sweat
And your skin
Bind completely,
Then you
Devour me.


THE FURTHEST REACHES OF THE WORLD

I see her moving
At the furthest reaches of the world
As the rhythm takes me
And my soul descends into the void
Like an eruption
From the otherworlds into the night
She beckons me
But never graces the shifting light
I slip away
Broken to fragments by pulsing drums
There she remains
A spectral lifeline back to my home


OBSCURED BY THE LIGHT

Obscuréd by the light
In faery-shifting banks of color
Silhouettes and puppets
Phantoms and a top hat
Crowning one lone vampire
Resplendant and protected
In his sunglasses after dark
Seethe and shimmer in the mist

Obscuréd by the light
I haunt the shadows carved by pillars
Drinking in their dreaming
Dancing and revealing
Disregarded watcher
Reverent and protected
By the carnival of lights


CHILD OF FANCY	

Here comes the rain
   Again in her heart
And the black light
   Shining in her eyes
Child of fancy
   Spinning in the light
And the darkness
   Beating in her soul


SAMANTHA SURVIVES

Samantha faces now
   The final curtain

In her eyes live
   Defiance and denial

Her body yearns
   For passion
   And her lips sing
   Choruses of life

The curtain
   A sword of Damocles
   Hangs above her now

And she protects
   Her death
   From interlopers

Seeking now
   To make it hers alone


SHADOWS CAGED

Shadows caged and
   Frozen deep
Locked in thrall
   To mist and sound
Ransom held
   By mistress strict
   And unrelenting

One dark angel
   Leads the escape
Reaches the sky
   Mounted
Mounting high
   On fragile wings
   Of rhythm

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