gone, the road back -

you gathered my mind - back streets, alleys ... again ... one thought only, piqued by a sound, exquisite. times so vibrant and delirious that all was a fever ... so much forbidden food I engorged behind a mask, then spit gently, the seeds, to find purchase where they may. So wrong and bright ... so dark and right ... mind and body thrown on the potter's wheel of a beast, manipulated so by innate intent, that I spun no mortal mercy of my own. A magnetic draw far beyond my sinew and vitality. To thus worship all that is not, to fawn at fear's reprieves, and fall by the altar, sordid and blood-ripe. To rend the sour Eden leaves, and taste their bitter glory, to watch the last full breath of a saint stand briefly in the winter air, and move my cheek against it ... to hear the first gasp drawn by a monster in innocence and nascency, and press my palm to quell. Why? Why not?? Such was brought forth amidst pain to scrape the spillings of a febrile feast, sorrow ever waiting, watching, holding my hand in the dark. Nails dug into flesh at the prayer that Mercy might come to shine in the night ... but the WAIT, oh, that accursed wait can devour you whole. Let the minutes go, or the hours will let go YOU, and the days will be ghosts ... years but the whispers of a phantom. Loose the wrongs and reasons - like all the darkened deeds of a backward glance, they are DONE ... if not, mark the dour glint in their eye, and heed well the crack of your bones, as they consume all you are ... and COULD be. ~ 1st Place ~ in the "In The Back Streets Of My Mind" Poetry Contest, Silent One, Judge & Sponsor. ~ 5th Place ~ in the "Religion Or Philosophy Poetry Contest", Kai Michael Neumann, Sponsor.