Flash fiction and poems

Desperate Love

Desperate Love


The course of love, they say
Is never too fair, a thorny way.

Angela hails from a rich and luxurious home
Dante is from an ordinary family from Rome.
He rose from rags to riches, a talented man
at a soiree they met and made secret plans.

They never thought to love forever,
in sun or rain they’d be together.
It looked like a doomed union from the start
with religions, races, and cultures so apart.

Social stigma and societal expectations
upon the lovers, cast a long shadow of hesitation.
Parental rejection pushed them to meet in stealth
at midnight under a cloudy moon, a pale crescent.

On a stormy night he rode across the dancing plains
come hell or high water, her hand, he would claim.
Her father’s mansion lit with bright colored lights,
wealthy men and women clad in velvet were invited.

Angela kept to her room absorbed in thoughts
of her only love, Dante, wishing him to be her savior
from a cruel father who promised her to a brigand
who’d no doubt make her slave, a heartless husband.

The old man’s henchmen spotted the tall young man
shackled and presented the same, to the reveling clan.
The groom of Angela challenged Dante to a duel
Panic and violence broke when he was killed.

The lovers under duress escaped into the misty plains
Alas! They plunged themselves into a deep valley unawares.
United in death, their desperate love found a fit destination
Pegasus carried them right into a heavenly wonderland

Where no worldly worries pestered
Where only joy and pure love dwelled.



Lines: 32
Words: 117
Written for The Dark and Twisted Romance Contest – March, 2025