Gnarled Shadows
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Delve into the Shadows: A Haunting Tale of Retribution
Gnarled Shadows is a poem that delves into the depths of consequence and the chilling grip of guilt. It's a tale strewn with the threads of a fateful hunt, the haunting gaze of an owl, and the secrets of the ancient forest.
Step into the poem and let the "Amber eyes" guide you through the darkness.
- Daniel
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Through shadowed trails beneath the moon’s cold stare.
Its Amber gaze: a burden hard to bear.
This feathered prize found peace in my gut
No slumber dreamt; no answer could I get.
Eurasian owl with orbs of liquid flame
My every stride a prideful, haunting game.
Then, fate unveiled upon a gnarled limb
I, no mercy watched the hunted
stand grim.
A rifle cracked. A feather's silent fall.
Forrest convulsed: lifeless body, empty hull.
In moonlit boughs of ancient, Fortingall Yew trees,
Where shadows twine and twist with eerie ease,
A serpent of smoke licks my dying fire, hissed.
A tarnished quill, a strigiform, mocks my quest,
Scrawling nightmares on this haunted, hallowed crest.
Runes of vengeance etched in bark, ancient and stark,
Throb crimson 'neath the moon's cold watchful mark.
This crumbling shrine where trophies once held sway
Is now a visceral warning at the close of each day.
Yet in those Amber eyes watching
dreadful!
dismay!
Of deeds, they taunt, dreams forever lain,
Feathers, like lost dreams plucked, bear cold and pain.
The tarnished quill is a taxidermied spine of ice
Inscribes his vengeful design a chilling price.
Buried beneath a sky of obsidian reason takes flight.
Through spectral night each rustle a talon of fright.
In boughs where nightmares crawl, no sanity found
Only the shadows stalked their fallen king, precarious.
And in those Amber eyes, demise, perdition, carious.
"Remember, mortal," screech fills the chilling air,
"The eyes you stole, forever watching, ever there."
From his perch above the hearth a gnarled branch, shines his ire,
Twin orbs of Amber pierce my soul's dark, smoldering pyre.
They burn with secrets, hidden by the cloak of night,
Reflecting sins in their unyielding, haunting light.
The quill, a conduit, upon my hand it bled,
Each stroke a tremor, each letter, a burning brand that feeds.
And in those Amber eyes,
doom
malediction
my shame.
Madness burrows a spider silk of terror in my skull
Webs of horror petrified where reason wanes turns cold.
Amber eyes unblinking,
piercing, Oh, so cold!
Mock my torment acerbic as each tale unfolds.
As moon wanes pale fresh shadows coalesce
The cabin shudders
secrets released
enmeshed.
Whirlwind of feathers
pinions tore
stillness
swish
And in those Amber eyes doom
my penance
deranged.
And in those Amber eyes death,
penance
must be paid.
A sudden tremor
not of wind or
leaf nor
breeze
A feathered silence whisps through the ancient Yew trees.
From moonlit depths a spectral form takes flight.
The Eurasian Eagle-Owl ascends bathed
in the ghastly light.
Thrice he circles a haunting serenade.
His gaze a portal to an endless
shadowed glade.
My stolen prize once perched
upon this gnarled limb
Now soars above reclaiming
vengeance, itself, him.
And in those vile Amber eyes
pierce, penance, possess.
The quill I clutch, once triumph's gleaming prize
Now crumbles to dust beneath the watchful skies.
"Mortal flesh to ash," fire hissed, "vengeance burns hotter”
"Forever haunted by a relentless burning quagmire."
The owl reclaims his throne a specter of vengeance in his flight.
And I, once the hunter now the hunted, enslaved.
In mirrored eyes madness seeps a corrosive weight upon my soul.
Owl, fire, reflections of a tormented troll.
And in those cruel Amber eyes
Retribution, torment, abyss.
And in those dire Amber eyes
Wraithful gaze
Burning pyre
shattered soul.
The fire fuses branded secrets
a purging inferno cleansing my plight
the Eurasian Eagle Owl
with those Amber Eyes takes final flight.
Leaving me alone with that foreboding blood moon...
…a nefarious succubus of the night.
Copyright © Daniel Henry Rodgers | Year Posted 2024
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