DieterM
10-31-2012, 05:32 AM
Darkness tiptoes down the cobbled lane,
slithers over stones and weeping cobwebs,
shakes ghostly hands before her windows,
slides through the keyhole of her front door
and settles like a mourning nightgown
on her skinny shoulders, on her sagging skin.
With weary, bloodshot eyes, she gazes over
the sombre realm outside where streetlamps
bite with acid blandness into cotton fogs
and chew on undressed trees.
She chews, as well, on memories
piled up around her rocking chair
like dusty books she’s read a thousand times.
The frozen mirror in her back, gone blind with age,
reflects the languid candlelight that shines
and flickers through the solidly black room.
Her cold, rheumatic fingers tremble
while trying to untangle grey and plaited hair,
but finally give up. She feels too far away
for sighs and sobs, feels beyond life.
The butcher’s knife bearing her name
falls to the floor. She reaches up
and paints her withering face with liquid makeup
and clotting lipstick. Her last date
is waiting in the fog.
slithers over stones and weeping cobwebs,
shakes ghostly hands before her windows,
slides through the keyhole of her front door
and settles like a mourning nightgown
on her skinny shoulders, on her sagging skin.
With weary, bloodshot eyes, she gazes over
the sombre realm outside where streetlamps
bite with acid blandness into cotton fogs
and chew on undressed trees.
She chews, as well, on memories
piled up around her rocking chair
like dusty books she’s read a thousand times.
The frozen mirror in her back, gone blind with age,
reflects the languid candlelight that shines
and flickers through the solidly black room.
Her cold, rheumatic fingers tremble
while trying to untangle grey and plaited hair,
but finally give up. She feels too far away
for sighs and sobs, feels beyond life.
The butcher’s knife bearing her name
falls to the floor. She reaches up
and paints her withering face with liquid makeup
and clotting lipstick. Her last date
is waiting in the fog.