The Weight

upon my

Chest

the Demon

Sucking

Breath

the Black

Horse

Fore

Shadows

my

Impending

Death

#B27321

I’m scared to be forgotten—

A tiny dot

An atom in this vast universe

Flicked off like an ash from a cigarette

Buried six-feet under

Worms can only taste me now  

I stare out at the expanse of time

The night is mine

I am the ruler of abrasive shadows

The creaky floorboard that brings you a shiver

The fear you feel when the lights get dimmer

A feeling of being watched, yet no-one is there

The movement in your wardrobe, look if you dare

I want you to…

My cold calloused hands want to usher your demise

I want to hear you scream, your blood curdling cries

To severe your flesh from tendon and bone

Think of me when you are all alone

But I can’t just kill you

The underworld has rules to adhere to

I need for you to look upon me

To investigate the unseen

To realise it isn’t a bad dream

To explore the scratching at the door

To peer out the window at that skeletal face you think you saw

For I am terror and fear, I am your hope that fades away

And tonight I have a special game for us to play

All that reads me, here on this page

Every person that has learnt about my supernatural stage

At midnight tonight I will be coming for you

Everyone on Prose, know this to be true

Time to lock all your doors, turn on all your lights

Close your wardrobes and prepare for this night

For if you awake tomorrow then you will have survived my game

But don’t get too comfortable

I may strike again...

© Richard Withey. All rights reserved.

the ghosts scream in my ear

while I sleep and it sounds

like wind rushing in for the kill,

fading to the howl of a creature

that unloads hate at my skull.

my mind opens to fear but

my body closes to impulse

in this closed-eye consciousness.

I wrestle within my darkness

against the talons on the other side.

there's pressure on my back

but I can't move and toss the carcass

off of me so I can wake.

I can feel the thrashing

and I may never know

where the wounds are,

my gauze may never drink,

ointment may never find a crack to fill.

morning brings uncertainty,

when I wake I will rise into a fog,

not knowing which side I belong to.

Cataclysmic phantasm,

Lurking in the crook of mirth and grave.

Tickled pink, just to loom in obscurity.

Put the cuffs on; I'm here to stay.

I see it's likeness in the rotting cemetery statues, 

Their daunt grins crying out my name. 

I catch the joyous whoops of carnal glee,

Snuffing out the light I need.

Ascertain the hole is dug, and pour me in.

I've melted down my unhallowed sin. 

I'll leave you now; try not to howl goodnight. 

This splendid beast, burrowed in me, has promised to embrace me tight. 

Hush my baby,

Don't you cry,

Everything's going to be all right.

You're just another tortured soul, 

Living in this thing called life.

Poisonous skies, 

And tortured loved ones,

Are just the monsters that play at night.

Hush my baby,

Don't you cry,

Everything's going to be all right.

You're just another tortured soul,

Living in this thing called life.

Dissected babies,

Bloody rooms,

Filled with dread and doom.

Rats eating at your chest.

You eating at your flesh.

Are just the monsters that play at night.

Hush my baby,

Don't you cry,

Everything's going to be all right.

You're just another tortured soul,

Living in this thing called life.

Man made beasts, 

You! their feast. 

Deception,

A life infected with lies.

Your freedom taken,

Your innocence demise. 

Are just the monsters that play at night.

Hush my baby,

Don't you cry,

Everything's going to be all right.

You're just another tortured soul,

Living in this thing called life.

Sacrifices of self and soul, 

until you lay dead and cold.

Are just the monsters that play at night.

Hush my baby,

Don't you cry,

Everything's going to be all right.

You're just another tortured soul,

Living in this thing called life.

Losing

                                               my mind

               into

                       the

                           night

                                                                                  I am lost;      I   ...

                                                cannot

                                                remember

myself

Darkness ensnares my mind

The wild mares of tumult

Scattering the delicate world

Whose glass planes gloss with tears

Opaque

I cannot remember

Oblivion

Inks its night

Of Nothingness

Smothering my mind

The cooling world

Loses me

No; I am losing it

I

     Cannot

                    Remember

At first,

Everything is bright

Happy

Normal

Rainclouds come

Hide the sun

And I'm dizzy,

Tripping over

My own feet

How can I trip in a dream?

In dreams,

You're not supposed to feel

Pain

You're not supposed to

Ache

But I see my family

My friends

My life

Extinguished

Like a flickering light

In a dark hall.

I watch as

Everything I love

Is crushed

Under the Enemy's heel

And ground into

Oblivion

I scream

And run to help

But my feet don't move

My voice makes

No sound

My hands cannot

Help

Help

HELP

Someone,

Anyone,

Please help me

I fall to my knees

And see red

Tears of blood

My tears?

Or rain?

My blood?

No.

My sister's.

I turn around

And he's there.

My demon.

He wears my face

And uses my voice

To laugh at me.

He shows me

Things I long for;

My friend, alive.

My scars, healed.

My hopes, restored.

Then my demon

Uses my teeth

To bite down,

Hard,

And rip them in half.

I close my eyes

Against the sight.

When I look again,

I'm falling.

Falling into nothing,

No one to catch me

No one to care.

Alone.

Why does my eyes, want not sleep?

Is it not the only tablet,

That gives me peace.

Why does my eyes, fears the deep.

Is it not the only casket,

Against six feet.

Why does my eyes, want not sleep?

Curses from the day,

Compresses,

Firm grip.

Why does my eyes, fears the deep.

Evangelist of pain,

Administers,

Hell's mint.

Why does my eyes, want not sleep?

Its no fairytale,

This nightmares,

Are real.

Why does my eyes, fears the deep.

Jesus to nails,

The whole world,

Cease to exist.

The vague shadows hover

In a sporadic darkness

Speckled with flashes

Of fire spewed

From a Devil's mouth

And His unforgiving army

Of the footless

And uprooted shadows

Double-jointed and

With mad jaundice eyes

It is a Wake

For my Demons

And the tide rushes in

Suffocating me

I am buried

In wilted rose petals

And the aroma of

Sour decomposition

I am aroused by

Their practical jokes

Jester nails screeching

& hysterical psyche

They taunt me

And they molest me

Until wet with abuse

I am scratched

Until I bleed

In Notes of Blue

And I seep

My own poison

I close eyes

Temporarily

So I can dance

Under a moon

Of glowing indifference

And in a noose

Made of white lace

I hang and

I twirl for you

And for the band

And for the spectators

Until I fall

The unrelenting truth

Reverberates from Evil

In the form of

Shadows

And their Sea of Death

Of Limbo haunting

And they rise with my pain

& with my memories

And my sinful guilt

I am turned on by

Self-mutilation

I lick my own wounds

Stimulated by

The taste of rich iron

And your words fall to me

& into my broken heart

We are all lost

With the ghosts

And the shadows

When they approach me

I want them to ...

Take me

And with a silver knife

To my vulnerable throat

I plead and

I threaten

I AM THE SACRIFICE

But they laugh

And their tone

Eases me to sleep