Hell
Is
The
Worst
Thing
That
Can
Happen
To
You
Death, the dutiful dismal doorman waits,
Depressed, opening each eternal gate,
Kneeling right, glowering at Heaven’s Gate;
Bowing left, grinning wide at Devil’s Gate.
With all souls passed through their eternal gate
Death drags Hades, gate left and immolates.
Above, flowers stir and wake in my presence.
They welcome me home with bright petals.
The sun grows joyous at my return.
Wood added to a fire, it seems to burn brighter.
A warmth born of Hestia's hearth blooms through my chest.
It is a pulse.
A paintbrush - Green spilling through dry grass far as the eye can see.
The sky unburdens itself of rain.
The world is filled with adoration.
Though below,
I know Husband Hades awaits with a comforting chill in his hands.
His arms are open wide.
Even when the sun is blown out like a match,
it gives way to a night, where the quiet restores the body.
Hypnos. Nyx. Morpheus. A restful darkness.
The hearth does not die down.
Fences fall. Stone walls crumble. The fire inside lives on.
Grass, although gone, gives way to the clear, sweet waters of oath-bound Styx.
Ancient. Familiar.
It whispers of my return.
The sky breaks open, weeping until the fields drown in nourishment.
Dark or light,
Winter or spring,
Life or death,
Everywhere Persephone goes,
The hearth only seems to burn brighter.
A soul lost to infestation.
Those scars, a work of art drawn with a chainsaw.
Rise, gate to Hades.
Broken arrows lay upon collapsed ruins,
mile high trees covered with ash and snow.
Let yourself fall quietly asleep at the entrance.
Tombs of the ancestors tainted with silver tongues,
no more false prophets.
Blood and fire, rose color ruin.
Destroy these walls with your echoes
with those beautiful screams, break it, smash it apart.
Vete al diablo.
Self destruction?
So, that is how you’ve chosen to end this battle.
That is not beautiful.
This so called Hades you saw
is nothing compared to what I have gone through,
living in a world of complete utter darkness.
Focus on my passion
Oasis in the dark Go ahead
Hear me now As stories might start
Life and love foretell Of celestial dreams
The bluest Incursion of death
From dream to full passion
Standing alone Seeking solace
Peace felt Caressing the eternal
Stare deep into The music beyond
Not such a thing Under a ladder
Tread gently Like nothing before
Hidden Find it all More resilient
What’s worse Worse than the evil shown
Fallen apart Finally away from them
Creature of the night As from the ashes
Depleted I’ve seen nothing new
Heard your voice From the start
Quite a ride Let the dance continue
Darkened streets All that’s seen
Imagine now With more to come
Walking with white butterflies
For a mere ounce Sensing the same
Once viewed different Don’t even try
Only if to direct Dying in the dark
All I See More than just Darkest of dreams
Willing or not Have no choice Calling Hades
Only seeing the dark Fragments of hell
Day finally come Beware the Windigo ~
(Comprised totally of titles of poems written by poet Flipsider)
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
There’s a place
in time
of no return
where you’re destined
for the end
A ride
straight down
with no reverse
to break
no longer bend
A final stop
on Hades
train
where devils
wait in line
With all
new couplets
in the flames
and nothing
— left to rhyme
(Dreamsleep: July, 2025)
The Gates of Hades
today I visited your Grave my love
I wasn’t sure if you noticed
this cemetery is in a Godforsaken place
the knobby old weeping willows
lend a Ghostly tenor to the site
the wind blowing through the trees
makes a Groaning sound or
perhaps it is just my imagination
I am still Grief-stricken since
that time ten years ago when
your soul was taken from me
and lifted to heaven on Gossamer wings
I shall never forget you until
my time comes
Within the ghostly fog the gate
is waiting patiently for me,
who is grief-stricken that you might not await
beyond the copse in love's decree~
a gossamer whisper of a promise
that cruel fate has whisked away.
In godforsaken solace
I am left with this cold grave of dirt,
wherein my fair Adonis sleeps
in unrelenting night,
and no amount of mortal groaning
will release him back to light.
Yet know this of the gods, and know it well,
That we and mortals form a single spell.
Dionysus, Hades, these are but tags,
They ease the tongue as back and forth it wags.
True names do nature spring forth from:
Once call our names and gods must come!
Having less
suffering more
Doors were slamming
wolf at the door
Arriving first
finishing last
Spiraling downward
— perdition recast
(The New Room: February, 2025)
For you, who must remain in Asphodel,
We weep for you, who have forever fell.
Yet we, who lost the moment, gained all time.
In falling, do we hope that others climb.
And though we lost our little lot of Earth,
We wish upon it all a grander birth.
Though life is for the living, not the dead,
Your lives our dreams, when we are gone to bed.
For the dreams of fallen fighters
Are the walkways of our world:
Be they heroes, be they blighters,
We’re the fabric they unfurled.
How much to those departed do we owe,
Whose bloods and brains didst build the world we know!
For sunlight rolled from off their learned tongue!
For ancient are the thoughts, forever young.
We paid no slavish homage to the past,
Nor failed to lend our glory to our day.
Take then our best, and nothing more need last,
And let thy beacon cast a brilliant ray.
We live as long as you recall our name.
We held the torch, and now we pass the flame.
To journey, yet alive, through Hades’ Gates,
Brings sorrow to the world, and to the Fates.
Yet Hades is the home accepting all,
And I shall catch thee, if thou choose to fall.
Then stand within my warm, eternal night,
And to all good and evil, close thy sight.
Let neither tears nor laughter touch thy heart,
And on our winding journey shall we start.
Thus sets these souls, whom I forever claim.
And yet, preserve the honor of their name.
And let them walk amidst you, through their fame.
And Chiron, in whose cause tonight I came,
Beloved of gods, he kindled reason’s flame,
With which, ferocious fortune, sought to tame.
Forever honor those who do the same!
Poor mortals, we have loved you, love us too!
Your grief shall fade, but ours, forever new.
Then let there be a sign to show it through.
And by the leave of Zeus, I now decree
That mortals evermore shall Chiron see!
And in the stars his image shall be cast!
In Sagittarius shall his wisdom last!
The Angels
have gone
Only devils
are left
Clouds
die infested
With fire
beset
Pitchforks
are glowing
Coal burning
the harps
Grace lost
in the smoke
Tomorrow
— is dark
(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)
Under three, and under seven
Under the ace of spades
Lies a land I’d like to land on
But I live in Hades
To get out the easy way
Take the shady train
And I ride it day to day
Knowing its in vain
I can make a change to go
Boatman gets his fee
But its not the shore I know
Where he’s taking me
I am speaking to the wall
To the corner of my room
If one day the ceiling falls
It will be my tomb
An alternative to get
To the better world
But I know it will upset
From the news I’ve heard
It deceives the same old way
Like they do in Hades
So why worry one would say
Laughing in my face
Under three, and under seven
Under the ace of spades
There it is, a land of Heaven
But I live in Hades.
infant sucked up in red waters
old buried in the red pools
it's a pity
on a black day
dies Mr pity
on a pity day
in a pity time
into a pity grave
in a black out
it's a pity
when I looked into the skies
I could see heroes gone
before their time during the black day
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