The Demon Castle
Pandora giggled wryly, “How ever did it work?”
The Devil laughed an evil laugh, and flashed an ugly smirk…
“Pandora, dear! It’s been so long since last we walked these halls!
Those empty souls have won the day! At last, the angels fall.”
~~
“Hehe!” replied Pandora, her handiwork complete —
For it was she who broke the box which once contained Deceit.
“Deceit was brilliant, wasn’t she? She used the mortal’s tongues
To pit them all against themselves, and truth was rendered mum!”
~~
“Brilliant, brilliant – that she was!” The Devil cackled back
“But surely, it was Hatred stained their mortal hearts so black?”
“Hatred was a clever thing, indeed, he played a role;
He poisoned Understanding’s wine with sour vitriol!”
~~
“Splendid work!” The Devil bellowed
And as he drained his glass, he mellowed
Happy, now…
For not a single angel walked the halls.
Cigarette
Burning, hot
Smoke rises, rises
Fear me not —
I’ve no surprises!
~~
Just a comfort,
At the ready
Glowing friend —
So straight, so steady
~~
All those things
That you are not
And always there;
A warming hearth —
~~
Of death!
The Pessimist Observes
Shifting shapes of men and women pass
Drift along, like ships without a mast
~~
Dancing eyes of children that a gaze can’t grasp
Remind me of my own, in some long-distant past
~~
Cheering chirps of birds up in the old oak tree
Crying out for lovers they may never meet
~~
Metronomic ticking of the coo-coo clock
As seconds slip forever from this lonely rock
~~
Half-empty glass of red wine on my desk.
