the night was young and sinister

i saw everything in sepia tones

a world tinted in tweed

but Him, i saw

in heavenly black

i saw, i loved, i conquered

and then He overcame

A beast I was

And only His to tame

O feral love, short-lived and rushed

But I’m the one to blame.

In between the lines, sublime,

All the wonders we could be

I yearned, I loved, I blundered,

For none of it could be.

One night, one night, that Holy night

Black, He so heavenly--

But break, my heart--

For fires start

If you should see him out of dark.

That night was my salvation,

The next were not the same

He only smiled, and had to look away in shame

While, I, the fool, still trembled at his holy name.

A week, a month, went by in vain

And yet he did not even deign

To recognize my pain,

The horrible heart that he had slain!

O heaven, pour your foulest rain!

And then, at last, his gaze did catch

Yet a smile, so vile…

He came to me a while.

I cease to forget this short-lived trial:

“Girl, You know, I loved You not

It was just a moment...just a thought.

But uncherished did you go not

For you were far better than the lot.

Lover once, and only once.

Clover petaled only thrice.

I trusted in my lucky dice

That clovers more

Would come tomorrow,

And your fair petals could I borrow.

Lover once, and only once.

Abandoned out of care, not malice,

For I should not drink from Your pure chalice

Sweet drought it may be, albeit not for me.

Adieu, sweet Girl,

Yours evermore in memory.

Lover once, and only once…”

And then I knew now, not to fall

For the greatest of them all

For shame, for shame, yet splendid game…

We were both the Ones to blame.

To She who loves Me

In the morrow

Hers is the Heart that I will borrow

For love Myself never have I done

But through Her eyes might my

Troubles be undone.

She, golden-eyed and fresh

As a newly plucked Rose…

How I do love keeping Roses upon Roses--

A dozen dead around my bed...

But You, My One, My Only

You I worship, truly, wholly.

Weep not My own sweet Athena

My Circe, My Penelope

For I have wept enough for us both

Secretly longing to have your love to boast

But Boaster to myself alone,

For daily I’ll awake, amazed

If I turn to see Your Lovely Face

I’ll laugh at Me before discovering You

Who gives My world a richest hue.

For now my place is sealed, I hate:

A simple admirer up to date.

Maybe, if the gods so will

I’ll live up to pay Your Pricey Bill.

I am Black, She is Gray--

I know not how I love

But that I do love is fact.

This I write to My Most Magnificent of Muses

She who daily Inspires

And leads me to Desire:

To shed my older, Winter Skins

And put upon a Springly Thing.

And now at last, at last adieu…

...Oh all that is unsaid, it hurts me so

Adieu, adieu

My Mind and Soul are Yours,

The Sea is teeming with Fish today,

You say.

It is always teeming with Fish,

Ready to answer your every wish.

You cast your Bait

And then await.

“It’s never too late.”

Your hook of False Worms,

It has lured your innocent prey,

You hold your grip firm,

And you begin to say:

“I have caught one to admire,

Do not scold me, it’s not dire.

I am not the Liar that you make me seem-

Oh, look how that river teems.”

Never satisfied

Will you continue to fish till all has dried?

You hold your prize,

And lock your eyes,

But only for a while.

“I do no harm!

I cast them back, you see.

After all,

They belong in the Sea.”

I do no harm

But it’s plain to see,

The scars you leave

As though they were

Your Enemy.

The mark of your Hook

Of Your False Worms

Remains a reminder

Of what you took.

You elate them

You suffocate them

But either way

Death’s written in Fate

Without any Bait.