Mark's Poems
The Eyes
Once again the night has claimed me,
Wresting me from slumber’s keep.
Thrust back into conscious anguish,
Jilted even, by my sleep.
Beseeching like a siren’s spell,
Seductively it does bestir;
Burrowing within my psyche
Vexing, vicious thoughts of her.
There is no sound, there is no light,
No moonbeams through my blind;
A veritable tabula rasa
For the maelstrom in my mind.
She left me many years ago
But lenitive, time is not.
Imprisoned in infinitude,
Is where I roil and rot
Ruminating in the darkness,
The silence finally breached;
My horse let out a ghastly howl,
Unearthly in its reach.
His wail cleaved through my restless thoughts
And suddenly I lurched;
Jolted into instant fear
Upon my elbows perched.
And then a wave, a dreadful mien,
Throughout the room was sown;
The gravest of forebodings,
For I was not alone!
My God what nightmare is it now?
What tortures can it be?
And then, the abject horror……
Some…...thing, was watching me.
Effusing from the blackness rose
An efflorescent glare;
Two red orbs of baleful evil,
Directly at me stared.
They fixed their gaze, they gawked, they gaped,
They drilled into my brain;
Consumed they were upon my person,
They cared not of my pain.
What brought this devil to my life,
What crime did I conspire?
What sin, what base iniquity,
Aroused perdition’s fire?
Petrified with fear I quavered--
Oh the stabbing of those eyes!
Was it her somehow transcendent,
Now a succubus in disguise?
The agony of love forsaken,
Moldering, until it dies;
Is it her who haunts my life force,
With those poignant, peering, pressing eyes!
Is my heartbreak insufficient,
Of the man she doth despise;
Will my madness sate her craving,
With those piercing, piking, probing eyes!
The Rubicon of death draws nigh;
Surely this is my demise;
Vile, heinous oculi……
Bedamn those penetrating eyes!
Now my heart beats all the louder……
Pounding, pounding, pounding more.
I scream in anguish at the terror……
Pounding pounding…....then no more…...
All at once a sudden stop……
A sense that’s vaguely freeing;
A wave of gentle liberation,
Extends across my being.
Gracefully my soul departs me,
Floating tranquilly in the skies;
But heaven’s splendor has escaped me……
I see piercing, probing blood-red eyes!!!
Lucifer's Lament
Always waiting……to be baiting,
Some poor soul into offense.
I’d be reveling……my bedeviling,
That befooled their common sense.
Ever steady……always ready,
Relying not—on happenstance.
Always prowling……and befouling,
Any life at every chance.
I’m the demon……always scheming,
Humans cower in my wake.
They’re so venal……I’m so penal,
Souls for sin—that’s what I take.
But I’ve grown weary……spent and bleary,
All the eons lapsed in vain.
Constant evil……no reprieval,
No one cares about my pain.
Though repentant……He inclement,
No forgiveness did He bear.
Eden’s garden…… gave no pardon,
My sins didn’t have a prayer.
Mercy never……banished ever,
For as long as time can tell.
Damning mortals……through the portals,
Of the gates that is my Hell.
An Ode to my Wife
Mountains rose between them.
Who could comprehend,
From far away,
Some future day,
The joys that fate would lend.
Years had passed between them,
The time burned on and on.
As hearts awaited,
Pained and negated,
Had hope become foregone?
Heartache grew between them,
From romantic failures past.
Was life about,
Living without,
Love that could truly last?
An ocean swirled between them,
As vast as eternity.
But time and space,
Know not their place,
In the hands of destiny.
A culture stood between them.
The two were worlds apart.
Love overcomes,
And then succumbs,
Unto it’s restless heart
Then nothing stood between them.
Their paths had finally crossed.
Their lives converged,
Their longings merged,
The years were worth the cost.
Despite the earthly boundaries,
And different ways of life,
In the end,
What does transcend,
Is the love of man and wife.