Best Danse Macabre Poems

* for maximum effect cue audio at stanza break

"For as they were in those days before the flood... so the presence of the Son of man will be." - Matthew 24:38-40

I see them, though they cannot see me. I watch as they engage in their...

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Along a winding country road
one autumn’s day of late,
I chanced upon an aged abode,
up a hill beyond a gate.

The house was old and quiet,
not a person 'neath its roof
but in a tree close by it
perched a bird, somewhat aloof.

It cawed and cawed audaciously
then quickly flew...

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Bite the bullet brave voyagers of war's wailing screams and cries
which terrify not few fighters that tremble not at new nightmares dreamt in somber tents.
The circus invokes its skull clients to its danse macabre.
Behold the skull's countenance contemplating thy face,
seeking to crown thee some forlorn...

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Danse Macabre

Twin Old Glorys jitterbug above the hoods as silent heralds; the motorcade 
congas three-abreast along the Stemmons Freeway sleek in shiny chrome.
Long honks and short beeps unite in harmonious homage 
to the office that cradles a nation in her oval skirts. 
Dallas, late November...

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I've surrendered thought for vanity
time for possibility
possibility for routine
and individuality for perfection
but how I long to wear that mask
even conscious of its tackiness and tattered edges
the sham of it all

and learn to fake it
learn to hide, disguise flaws, manipulate imperfections
turn myself into someone else, yet
do...

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DANSE MACABRE

Bright Love went hand in hand w/ ancient death
to plant his kisses upon death’s grey cheek--
old Death rolled up his eye and caught his breath,
he felt his bony thigh beneath grown weak--

Death went w/ love into a quiet land
wheregrew all things of green and...

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The sun fades away behind the horizon
And all is still, the in-between time.
All is quiet, as though lying in wait….
And then there is a stiff, sudden movement.
Slender, twig like fingers grasp the earth
And strain as the rest follows upward, through soil.
Dark, empty sockets gaze around,...

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As we walked through the valley of the shadow of it
Silent neighbors whose stolen doves
Fly free
Free in the night to unfurl wings of peace
In times of war 
So unjust is the death of the nightman
Keeper of earthly tombs in Ancient Greece
The pinnacle of pain erupts...

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housed within mine impenetrable hermetically 
   sealed invisible bubble
   draped with blackened Hades 
   hued habiliment therein dwelt
sinister saboteur mastermind marauder of the Hubble
   who demanded sacrifice to traverse 
   river styx with unadulterated gelt...

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“Eat, drink, and be merry,”
the cry goes out,
as the party ensues.
Unsteady bodies, alcohol impeded
joints and limbs, numbed
commonsense, as they
dance, fornicate, and drink,
unknowing or ignoring
the Black Spectre of Death
who peers at these simpletons
through its beaked-face mask, 
patiently awaiting the moment
its sharpened blade makes 
its downward journey
upon...

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It’s closing in,
The harmonic melody,
It’s tone deliberately grim.

As a one-time melody, it is heard by all.
A familiar, yet unfamiliar ring.

For the majority - its tune is distance.
But like all those before, I can hear it-
I can hear it from deep within.

It’s seduction.
Always terribly well-advantaged,
Overpowering,
Never once...

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Danse Macabre is German for Dance of Death...


Transfixed by the movements, the musical vibrance,
We move to the tune of invisible sirens.
Reality reposes with the closing of eyelids,
Then lies change to truth and peace transforms violence.
As the colors fade from blue, all noise turns to silence....

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demeanour relaxed and affable
he was not a dancer, yet performed a jig
return gift an ivory photo frame for each guest
the painkiller shielded his terminal illness
dance of death enacted in jest...

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autumn leaves delight
why are we so enchanted ~
by beauty in death...

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