Monster
Castle walls
lost in traveling gloom,
treasured eyes
and lucid tongues,
villagers on full attack.
The monster's path
chosen for him
by deceit,
loosed upon the
virginal countryside.
His steps measured,
eyes seeing
but not understanding.
He disappears
into the fog.
When the sun rises,
burning off the residue,
will you be dousing a torch
or
reaching out a hand.
Incursion
The dipper angled down
scooping black sky,
dripping it like oil
over challenging stars below.
Benevolent One
Benevolent one,
for you I stole the sun.
Healing soul,
for you I played the fool.
Caring not about retribution
my thoughts soared only to you.
But eons have passed
and I am waiting,
waiting,
kept waiting.
Where are you?
Imprisoned for you,
I wait for your freedom-bearing touch.
Benevolent one, accept my plea
as I accepted your greatness.
I have done thy bidding.
Free me, take me . . . what?
White wings . . . over my head,
beating so slowly the air remains still.
Benevolent one, you have returned.
My tears, an offering for you.
Lift me away from the unknowing world.
Benevolent,
why am I in pain?
Angel's wings ascending,
but my healer, you've taken
my soul.
Benevolent one,
for you I stole the sun,
for you I have played the fool.
The Despairing Sea
Along the water’s edge, she
breaks
the surface, searching for a moment in time
to steal.
The forest grows quiet. Ancient trees
extend their gnarled branches,
entwining them
into a net
to capture the sunlight.
Darkness descends.
The animals lie still. And quiet. Their shallow breaths
a halo
around the Goddess as she searches.
Ylaine’s underwater home is dormant.
She rid herself of them all. Creatures
large and small
male and female.
Their bones paved the seabed. The water is silent,
save Ylaine’s howls of loneliness.
She wanted the seas for herself and no one else.
She is a Goddess.
She must be respected and feared.
She is a Goddess.
Now all beasts who would live in the water are afraid.
She is a Goddess.
Beautiful. Radiant. Like a star fallen to earth,
Ylaine searches
the forest. For a perfect moment. An instant
of time teeming with life to take back home.
It has been a millennium.
The wails begin,
echoing off the crackling bark of the tree-guardians.
Branches snap and fall to the ground.
Beams of sunlight stream through. The animals
stir, awaken.
Morning is here, the premature night is over, and
the Goddess waits.
The trees stretch farther to patch the holes in the net.
Roots explode from underground,
the rumbling imitates thunder.
The sunlight is extinguished. Confused, the animals
lie still.
The Goddess collapses. Weakened,
she crawls back to the sea.
Entering the water, she cries out
in hatred of the forest
and disappears into the black deep of her home.
Invasion (Roger Corman, Where Have You Gone?)
Spider’s legs
hairy and brown,
flicking at you
from the ground.
It moves closer,
panic sets in.
If you look close
you’d swear it had a grin.
Backed against a wall
you want to scream.
Go ahead,
it wants you to scream.
One leg at a time
pulling along the fat body,
as thick as a tick
delerious and bloody.
Move! Run.
Get out of the room.
Find a newspaper,
grab a broom.
Oh . . . my God,
too late.
His friends have arrived,
enemies at the gate.
The carpet turns brown
moving toward you.
You can’t run,
there’s no one to scream to.
Sink to the floor
and allow it to happen,
open your mouth,
let them in.
Prickly legs brushing your lips
as they enter your mouth.
Dream of heaven
before you pass out.
Filling your body,
organs spun in silk.
Laying eggs in the veins,
nesting from the light.
We all must prepare
as we look on in sorrow.
You were the first,
but what of tomorrow.
Christopher Hivner lives and works in south central Pennsylvania where he feeds his obsessions with football, music and the TV show "The Office". He has had a few hundred stories and poems published over the years and a collection of horror short stories, "The Spaces Between Your Screams", was published in September as an ebook by eTreasurespublishing.com