Zephyrus of the Anemoi

I love the sound of the wind through the leaves
As a summer storm rolls in at the 11th hour
The windows are open and I can feel the breeze pass over my sore shoulders and tired face
I breathe deep, the cool Midwest breeze; Westerly is its name
I am reminded of storms gone by, as I so often am at the end of summer
As the great giant’s footsteps are heard rumbling across the plains
Th pitter-patter of thousands of thousands tumble across my ears
I repress the urgent need to feel the drops kiss my skin, instead turning toward my bed
I lay awake and listen
Listen
If all nights could be this sweet

Beware the wold, the gimble in the wabe. For midnight comes and nocturnal desires thrash in the pitch. Knowledge is deadly, but death is cheap. Cut its purse and flee, for the raven and the mockingbird seek refuge.

All is not yet lost… yet you are.

Your skin shines in the firelight
And I can feel your heart beat against my chest
Waiting
Ever so impatiently for my embrace
A simple caress
Soft lips on smooth skin
Trembling
Your eyes sparkle and dance as the light plays around the room
Shadows flicker
Watching hungrily
Waiting to devour you
As I devour you
Your lips part in ecstasy and your eyes roll back
A soft cry escapes your lips before it is stifled
Your lack of breath makes it so
As does my kiss
Warmth pulsing, throbbing, draining
Until you go cold
Ecstasy gone as if life itself
I move on
Searching and hungry for more

• chemical impulses course throughout
• bio-electricity races across the surface
• irises dilate, optic nerves fill with light
• respiration heightens, oxygenated blood fills the head
• skin tingles as nerves hit full alert
• hair stands up, reaching for tactile connection
• heart pounds behind calcium prison bars, threatening to break free
• endorphins explode in the brain, near-perfect bliss
…first kiss

Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day.
Which was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out
But still it lingered near.
And waited patiently about
To kill the teacher here.

It waited for the bell to ring,
That half-demonic sheep.
And when the teacher stepped outside
Its vengeance she did reap.

It slit her throat from ear to ear.
It bit out her left eye.
Then Mary and the children came
To see dear teacher die.

The first few screamed and ran about.
A handful gasped and cried.
Mary’s wicked smile though
Was followed by a sigh.

And when the heathen sheep did roar
And spray red death around,
The children no more ran nor played
But wound up in the ground.

And Mary rode her demon sheep
Into the gates of Hell,
Where she did take the twisted crown
And forever wore it well.

The crazy man counts stripes in the suits in the department store window.
His wife, at home, waits patiently, wishing he were home.
A sketchy young man checks to see if he’s being watched before he pulls out his phone.
Checking in with his girlfriend in the middle of the day, he does not want to be seen by his friends.
A woman stands secretively behind a column, smoking her last cigarette before she quits.
It’s too late, her child already addicted to the nicotine sticks of death.
My walk back to work from lunch was unique.

I must go back
I must be free
And trapped no more
Please, help me see
The path I take
To find the way
I’ll make it home
Or die today

The light fades to darkness as the sea caresses sand
And the moon leapfrogs the earth as stars walk hand in hand
The sun is hiding deeply in the shallow wading water
And all is safely hid from sight but not from Time’s own father
The hours drift gently on and moonlight turns to day
But ‘ere that hour of daybreak comes I’ll safely slip away
Into the great divide I run, the realm ‘twixt wake and dreaming
And there release my fears and hates and search throughout my screaming
For that one safe memory that will see me through the day
The dream of night so peaceful and the time that slips away
Now to your beds you must be gone for darkness here is fleeing
And when the moon is risen, I again you will be seeing
Sleep by day and wake by night and know you are my friend
For if you weren’t I’d never tell you of the evening’s end

A single tear slides
Swiftly down your face
You reach out to hold me
But I avoid your tense embrace
“I’ll not touch you,”
I cry, though strangely make no sound
There is little noise here
Where once it did abound
I see water drip,
A book fall
I shrug your arm off
But do not hear your call
All sound has gone
The light fails, too
Your grief envelops me
I can’t escape its tomb
Forgive me for my faults
I want to live!
Too late, my cry unheard
And life is not yours to give
I beg you to recall
The way you loved me then
You giggle madly
Sound returns again
“Loved you,” comes the cackle
Wisping through clenched teeth
“Not I, but you
“You loved me,” you seeth
And now my eyes are clear
Water drips, book falls
It is my arm on yours
It is I who calls
For a brief moment I understand your hate
But you leave anyway

The grass rustles beneath my feet.
Swish. Swish.
As I tread firmly on, stopping for no one.
Seeking justice. Seeking redemption.
Life flows from my side, mixing with the dust in the air.
Dripping into the dirt, making small droplets of mud.
Staining the tall grass as I pass through it.
Swish. Swish.
I must not stop. Not even for this.
Redemption is near.
I can see his shadow before me.
I can see the stained grass that he has left.
I can see his droplets of mud.
Swish. Swish.
I am gaining. Justice is nearer.
He stops and waits.
For me.
Turning, he lets life flow.
Swish. Swish.
I stand before him, treading no more.
Swish.
We both know the end is here.
Not near. Here.
No one will walk away, but honor must be restored.
Justice must be done.
He grins.
I lunge.
Sun glints off steel
Justice must be served.
No. Not justice.
Vengeance.