Daniel Henry Rodgers | + Follow Poet |
Dramatic Monologue | + Fav Poem | Comment | Email | Print |

Hourglass of Primal Wolf Skulls

Why does he provoke me to anger?

He stalks among us -  with his song -
a wolf's grin

His inimicality beckons 
like a hawk's talons,
luring prey to certain death

Yet he imparts wisdom 
to those who bleed

Beware!

his insights twist 
like a pit of pepper x vipers;
devouring souls He spins tales of survival
and primal instinct
Beneath the façade
lies decay
concealing carnage

Lessons on Existence
and mortality

Be vigilant

his guidance binds 
with sinews of animosity
shaping destiny Unaware of affliction
coursing through marrow and vein
Witness the sickness
plaguing with sweat

coughs
bile

the tongue is forked

Blind to the carrion left in his wake
Feel the sorrow.
gripping with 

fangs
claws

eventual fading

Believing himself a predator 
an alpha sent from wild heaven
to cull weak souls

Thinking himself a messenger,
a herald of nature's law,
red in tooth.
and claw He is a heralded omen.
of destruction.
a force that ravages 
like wild grasshoppers

A mere puppet
in the jaws of perniciousness

prey

manipulated by instinct What does it mean 
to embody humanity
in such a world

He is not valiant for the truth on the earth

Being means embodying 
both beast and god
a mix of acts 
primal deeds

son daughter devour 
father mother
cull the weak

What defines predator or prey
It's playing roles
of hunter and hunted  Committed
to survival... no shame no remorse.

den of jackals 
Cerberus howls 
at the gates of perception

Wisdom versus foolishness
juggling 

trust,
doubt
        survival,
             extinction.

Alive or dead?
balancing the essence 
of breathing
returning to bone Maybe life comes without meaning
only instincts I follow.
paths I carve.

Perhaps good and evil 
are pelted skins we wear
shed, Perhaps there is only him and me 
strangers who 

meet
part
        collide
             disintegrate

Perhaps there is only then and now
memories we keep,
discard And I wonder 
was I dreaming
left alone 
by someone so close yet far away

no prey on the plain
no flesh on the bone
marrow dries

death seeps through cracked spine 
like black blood from a wound in reality

I followed him to the boneyard 
Never to waken to realize

he was me.

Or maybe
I was him 

intertwined in the void 
of existence

(un)reality shifts 
        like sand
             through an hourglass of skulls

time is a construct 
we invented to measure our own decay

language fails 
        to capture
             the essence of

being / non-being

I am,
        you are,
             we are,
                  nobody?

everybody...

simultaneously.

Please Login to post a comment

Rowena Velasco Date: 7/25/2025 11:08:00 PM This poem is deeply haunting and beautifully existential—like a shadowed meditation on identity, mortality, and the fluid boundaries between self and other. The imagery of decay and the hourglass of skulls creates a stark, visceral atmosphere, while the final lines challenge our very notions of being with profound ambiguity. Truly thought-provoking and hauntingly lyrical. Login to Reply

Beryl Edmonds Date: 10/23/2024 1:12:00 AM A fascinating write for Halloween night Daniel, scary, reminding us to be wary of he who talks with forked tongue… Beryl Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/23/2024 7:59:00 AM Dear Beryl, It was a pleasure to see your 2nd note this morning. Thank you for your comments. I think that we each have enough darkness in us that, for the most part, is kept hidden. It can be consuming if not managed. Mine is a Goth muse that helps me to express it. LOL! Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Deb M Date: 10/18/2024 11:41:00 PM Whoa what a poem Daniel…a psychological thriller right there! A man in wolfs clothing…..completely mesmerized by this one Daniel. Excellent! ….Debx Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/23/2024 7:56:00 AM Dear Deb, this time of year my psychological and philosophical Goth muse shows up. THank you for reading and being mesmerized! Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Andrea Dietrich Date: 10/18/2024 7:27:00 PM Stephen King ain't got nothing on you, Daniel! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/23/2024 7:55:00 AM Ahhh, Dear Andrea, I am so appreciative of your note. Well, I do not have his money by any stretch. LOL! But I do love your comment. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Nette Onclaud Date: 10/18/2024 3:57:00 PM daniel, a juxtaposition of all elements dark and sinuous...i feel your ravaged soul in this searing poem... Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/23/2024 7:53:00 AM Dear Nette, What a joy to see your note this morning. You are seeing my seasonal Goth coming through. I do find it to be a challenge but also fulfilling. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Edward Ibeh Date: 10/18/2024 11:50:00 AM Simply amazing stuff! Wolves are truly fascinating animals and I've written quite a lot about them. None of my writes are as good as this one. I thoroughly enjoyed reading, Dan. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/23/2024 7:52:00 AM Hello, Edward, nice to see your note this morning, and I appreciate your comments. Wolves are some of my favorite animals. I will have to seek out your poems about wolves. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Paige Hind Date: 10/17/2024 12:45:00 PM Darkness can be primal, even for the Alpha...a poem that makes us ponder, very appropriate as we're entering Halloween I think- deep and heavy, Daniel Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:46:00 AM Dear Paige, I am always grateful to see your visits and your introspective thoughts on my poems. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Mandy Tams The Golden Girl Date: 10/17/2024 8:05:00 AM Wow, it lives up to its title. Thanks for your lovely comment and I hope you do get my book. It's released on Kindle first on the 7th of Nov. The paperback will follow. it is based on fact. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:45:00 AM Dear Mandy, I do want to get the book and read it. I am sure that it will hold my attention through out. Thanks for your comments. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Mike Bayles Date: 10/16/2024 7:25:00 PM Interesting personification of a wolf, its spiriit and myth. I like how you ponder if it is a part of us. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:44:00 AM Hello Mike, thanks for your comments. A wolf holds some of my favorite animals. Autumn Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Regina Elliott Date: 10/16/2024 3:14:00 PM Gothic and chilling, Daniel. Quite haunting in It's creepiness. Bravissimo. Have a blessed Wednesday evening with family, good friend. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:43:00 AM Dear Regina, You can probably tell that Poe is my modern muse at this time of year. Thank you for your comments. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Joe Dimino Date: 10/16/2024 5:46:00 AM Yep, life, death, they are equal mysteries. Faith too often a bridge unrealized. Good and evil, dimensions apart -- man is the transverse stretch...we travel to ourselves from ourselves. Interesting write, to say the least, Daniel. Enjoyed! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:42:00 AM Hello Joe, It was great seeing your comments today. Thank you so much for looking deeper into the poem. Autumn Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Victor Buhagiar Date: 10/15/2024 10:07:00 PM We all have our aches, and colitis is definitely not pleasant. I hope this is just fantasy. Your poem is very deep: Death seeps through cracked spine. It's not a pleasant sensation. I hope there is a cure for it. Your imagery is great. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:41:00 AM Dear Victor, Thank you for your comments, and I am most grateful. This is all fantasy, but it probably holds true for some. I love Poe, and this time of year, I try to create seasonal poems that reflect that time period. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

David Crandall Date: 10/15/2024 6:48:00 PM Funny, I just listened to an old folk song Reynardine, that some of this reminded me of, this is not really on the subject, but I recently read a few dark books: The Sympathizer and The Committed, somehow, they came to mind reading your poem. Login to Reply

Hilda Greenhough Date: 10/15/2024 6:47:00 PM This poem held my attention. It has terrifying images and deep philosophy. I guess we have to find our own way. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:39:00 AM Dear Hilda, I am very thankful for your visit and your comments. I guess most of my poems have a philosophical spin to them. Thank You! Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

David Crandall Date: 10/15/2024 6:45:00 PM Daniel, a thought provoking, cool and creepy poem. I too liked this grim line, "time is a construct we invented to measure our own decay" and "Cerberus howls at the gates of perception". Also, "Yet he imparts wisdom to those who bleed". I'm actually thinking of someone specific when I read this. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/18/2024 11:38:00 AM Hello David, Thank you so much for your insights and pointing out your favorite lines. After writing the line "time is a construct we invented to measure our own decay". I thought I should use that as a stand-alone quote. Autumn Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Ink Empress Date: 10/15/2024 11:42:00 AM Dear Daniel, what a deeply moving and meaningful poem this is, I absolutely love poems that flow with introspection, and this one does and i love the dark diction youv used here. But mostly from all the lines what touched me most was “Perhaps there is only then and now memories we keep, discard And I wonder was I dreaming left alone by someone so close yet far away” wow that resonates and hits my soul so deeply! Those moments we ponder and question almost everything, i think we all go through that and memories whether good or bad, we find our mind waltzing through boneyards collecting remnants of what was and never was. I love this! A fave for me !! Sending you light always! Halloween is also my fave time of the year btw! Pleasure reading you Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/15/2024 12:23:00 PM Dearest Empress! WELCOME BACK!! We missed you! Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words about my poem! I'm thrilled that you enjoyed my newest poem. Especially my line about memories—it's such a deep and universal feeling. Your support means the world to me, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Sending you lots of light right back, and I totally agree—Halloween is the best! By the way here is my favorite lines in the poem: "time is a construct we invented to measure our own decay language fails to capture the essence of being/nonbeing". I can’t wait to start reading your newest installments, and I know they are always so well-written with passion and insights. WELCOME BACK! Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend

Sam Kauffman Date: 10/15/2024 11:20:00 AM Once again, dear friend, you send me into a realm of poetic artistry as you speak your dark monologue of broken bones and "Cerebus howls." This would be a fabulous monologue as part of a longer dramatic presentation. For me it has flashbacks to Hamlet's lines and MacBeth's witches! There is an eerie, haunted quality in this piece, not macabre but capturing that spookiness of a full moon on All Hallows Eve. Sending you blessings. Looking forward to the next installment! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/15/2024 12:12:00 PM Dear Sam, You words are always uplifting and motivating and I so much appreciate your visits. When I wrote this piece, I wanted the haunting aspects of wrongful existential and nihilistic living that sometimes turns the good mind to evil. I like your comparison to MacBeth's witches. Halloween should have haunting stories and poems and allow the mind to contemplate what is entering our mind unfiltered, good or bad. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

I Am Anaya Date: 10/15/2024 8:52:00 AM Like the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for" our thoughts are delicate and if disturbed an unbalance occurs and the consequences dangerous. The werewolf is in us it seems, we must keep it caged. Everything hungers, we are primal beings first. Very scary and Halloween-spirited. A Bohemian beat to it--I enjoyed it very much. (fingers snapping). Login to Reply I Am Anaya Date: 10/25/2024 12:36:00 PM :) always a pleasure Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/15/2024 12:08:00 PM Dear Anaya, As I said in my post about your poem, WELCOME BACK! Thank you for taking the time to mull over my words and see the deeper meaning. Thoughts become emotions that become behaviors and untethered; those behaviors can be quite destructive. Thank you for your wonderful comments. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Joseph May Date: 10/14/2024 5:54:00 PM You set thoughts in motion of predator and prey, good and evil, and the many questions they pose, and sometimes the lines are blurred, as survival hangs in the balance Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/15/2024 12:05:00 PM Hello Joseph, I loved your introspection and thoughts. For life always hangs in the balance between our physical being and our emotional mind. Thank You! Autumn Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Mystic Rose Rose Date: 10/14/2024 3:16:00 PM simultaneously. That is how it happens when we are not watching and not focusing, life comes into view, I couldn't have said it better myself Daniel, your an excellent writer who never disappoints :) Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/15/2024 12:04:00 PM Dear Rose, You always fill me with humility, and I appreciate your comments. Yes, when we are not mindful, skeptical, and asking querying questions, we can get lost in the mix of beliefs. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Sara Kendrick Date: 10/14/2024 1:35:00 PM Creative spooky work you have been in this one. Way to go. If for a contest, reads like a good contender to me. Thanks for sharing you gift with us. Sara K Login to Reply Sara Kendrick Date: 10/16/2024 4:42:00 AM Daniel, I noticed the ending again. We are always someone special to at least one person so we are all somebody to them. God loves each of us and we are special to Him and always will be. Sara K Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/15/2024 12:02:00 PM Dear Sara, thank you for your thoughts. This is not for a contest but is part of my Halloween releases. It is funny cause I wrote these several weeks to months ago in anticipation of the posting. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Silent One Date: 10/14/2024 12:23:00 PM I like how your poem poem delves into the dark, raw aspects of human existence by juxtaposing primal instincts with philosophical musings. The speaker presents a figure who embodies both wisdom and destruction, drawing from the animalistic imagery of predators like wolves, hawks, and jackals. The recurring motifs of death, survival, and decay evoke a sense of inevitability, as if life itself is a struggle governed by natural law, indifferent to morality. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/15/2024 12:00:00 PM Hello SO, thank you for taking the time to write your own introspection to my poem. As you already can tell, this is very much in line with the Halloween season and gives deeper thought to the aspects of existentialism, nihilism, and the wandering mind. Autumn Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Maria Williams Date: 10/14/2024 5:54:00 AM Dear Daniel, Your insights are more chilling than my ‘Halloween Night' Video. You describe a figure that represents a stark reminder of complexities seething beneath the surface of humanity existence and human nature. I gather you paint a vivid image of predators and decay of a world ruled by instinct, where wisdom comes with a cost, and survival is achieved through cunning. Am I correct in my assumption? A very good analogy – thanks for your insight. Hugs Maria PS nice formatting too. Login to Reply Maria Williams Date: 10/14/2024 6:53:00 PM So well said and written Daniel and I do concur with your symbolistic thoughts with your coverage of psychological and sociological misinformation. When someone is pointing a figure, they should realise that the other three fingers are pointing at themselves. Unfortunately, as you alluded to, good people get subliminally or directly to conditioned and indoctrinated by atrocious lies - Hugs Maria Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/14/2024 10:57:00 AM Dear Maria, I am always so thankful for your comments. Most of my poems are longer than average, and I always wonder if people will read them because of their length. I try to write the depth of the story to keep the reader interested from beginning to end. I wanted to show that evil is always pointed outward at others when we have enough evil to address. Most want to be considered good but end up believing some atrocious lies placed into their thoughts that can turn into action incorrectly. Anyway, I wanted to cover psychological, sociological, and philosophical ideas about our beliefs. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Kim Rodrigues Date: 10/14/2024 5:21:00 AM Quite an interesting ending. We follow the hunter and hunted only to realize the attachment to our truth. Great as always, Daniel! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 10/14/2024 10:52:00 AM Dear Kim, Yes, this is a very existential poem that goes right along with Halloween to leave the reader kind of hanging in contemplative thoughts. Autumn Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel