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House of the Rising Sun

In a smokey room, each time I awake, the dream again descends. Deeper into the abyss I fall to a sea of melancholic funk. Souls waft by on clouds of imagination, clinging to the dank ceiling. The raven sits, waiting, to carry its troth to Amadeus, the who in charge. Its red eyes gleaming reflections of misery and living death; of hell in abundance, as it collects the souls. Amadeus, licks his lip, unknowingly. Small beads of spittle glow from the corners of his mouth. He and the raven sing soft and low. They sing to music of pipes sucked and drawn dry. Dry from the dying gurgle of moisture collected in the stem, Hallelujah! Where is God for me this day, this hour, this moment in time? My innermost thoughts being fed to the who. Show me the smallest spark of a flame of divine presence. Am I so lost as to lose the glow of his love placed into my heart, even as in the womb, by my mother’s joy and her presence of being in Christ. Please Lord, travel even that thin thread to rescue me. Not for my sake, but hers. Not for my soul, but her legacy. Not for my tears but her joy. Not for my pain but her peace. Not for my work but her faith. He said it is so. I think it must be so. The ground began to tremor. It sighed as it shifted ever so slightly, not felt by Amadeus, but noticeable, in the fetid liquid constantly weeping onto the walls and puddling in the floor. The tremors still vibrated, as I was moved away from the deep. Gathering strength as Amadeus lost control, I moved farther and farther up the stairs, praying for no interference. Suddenly, it seemed the universe was changing, moving somehow to accomadate, I knew not what. Mind bending, shape shifting molecular alterations, occurring in four different planes at once. I was losing uniformity, cohesion, sensibility and reason. Light, darkness, sweat, transference, crept into and over me as I passed over and under things. Beings? semi-beings, merging, separating, into total nothingness. Rraaammuus, very far off, as my head began to clear. Ramus! Ramus? “Oh, you are awake.” her lilting voice bringing back my sanity. “Where did we go last night Baby”? I remarked. “Where did we go?” she asked. Explaining further, she had dropped me off at the House of the Rising Sun, over on the bay front. I hadn’t come home up until she came back, about twenty minutes before. She said I must have stumbled in, sometime in the last ten minutes. Strange though----I did not have my key to that lock---!!! For Catie's dark prose contest

Copyright © | Year Posted 2010




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Date: 1/4/2011 4:12:00 AM
Wonderful write! I really enjoyed the read. Good luck in the contest and thanks for the heads-up. Caryl
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Date: 1/1/2011 5:48:00 PM
Just wonderful! If I might be so bold, more commas would be a help & perhaps less run on sentences? Good job with the new haiku contest you beat me to it! And Happy New Year friend! Light & Love
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Date: 12/30/2010 4:36:00 AM
Oh my goodness Charles what an extraordinary write. This surely must be a winner. See you after the New Year to read more of your amazing poetry. Love and blessings to you and yours always, Carol
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Book: Reflection on the Important Things