Percipience

Percipience


** Image ID #1983250 Unavailable **


Eve after eve, the dream returns.
A child lost in the night.
The darkling woods, where no light burns:
the source of all my fright.

Branches, disrobed of any life,
reach out, like grasping claws,
leaving red trails, as if a knife
has flayed me in its jaws.

I stumble on; the ebon path
gleams with an eerie hue.
Malevolent, I feel a wrath
that I cannot subdue.

My flesh now hangs in sanguine strips,
an arcane offering.
A noiseless scream falls from my lips
yet to this pain I cling.

A fluttering, that's faint at first,
interrupts the silence.
What demon comes, filled with blood-thirst,
to offer me it's violence?

No place to hide, I hold my breath
and silently I pray
"Come for me dark Angel of Death.
I beg, take me away."

I seek the peace found in release
from this torturous place.
I fear my anguish will not cease
'til death's final embrace.

What power holds me in this cage?
What evil holds me dear?
I curse the heavens in my rage
'til overcome with fear.

Eve after eve, the dream goes on;
no sunrise can I find
nor will I ever see the dawn ...
trapped in an insane mind.



An entry for the inaugural round of "Invalid Item" 
Prompt 1: Image
Line Count: 36

percipience ~ a person or thing that becomes aware of, knows, or identifies by means of the senses.
sanguine ~ blood-red; red

Note: This was written in English Common Hymn meter (8/6/8/6) used most notably by Emily Dickinson. I chose it because it has a bouncy sing-song flow to it which I thought contrasted with the darkness of the story in a rather macabre way