The Hole of Night
Dancing in autumn leaves of gold
Burnt sienna, scarlet, umber
Souls awaken, dark and cold
From their fitful, restless slumber.
Taking shape and stalking me
Seducing with their scorching fears
Darkness came and carried me
I drown in all her reddened tears.
Lost within this braided wood
I trace my steps on the narrow path
It watches; I and my riding hood
I race to evade its shadowed wrath.
And all shadows leave a stain
My memories have left their mark
Scarring deep within my veins
Carving into deadened bark.
The crows encircle where I lay
The earth is cold, yet I feel numb
They sing their songs in shades of gray
Rusty groans of what’s to come.
Sacred words on pages found
A lamp to guide me on my way
Shades will rise up from the ground
To try and steal my soul away.
She pines for me, her oozing sap
A sticky wine upon my lips
Just a taste will spring the trap
And evil comes with every sip.
This forest gives her poisoned fruit
A tempting taste so bittersweet
I strike this bounty at the root
And leave no tricks with which to treat.
Though I, hollow-eyed and haunted
Grow dizzy in my circled prayers
I cry out, my dreams, undaunted
Every hope, a signal flare.
And those hopes, those echoes churn
The voices that once wished me well
They circle back and thus, return
To weave around a sacred spell.
And so I rise, and thus advance
And if it takes the whole of night
I dare to finish this tribal dance
Until I see dawn’s waking light.
