Daylight stings

A raging wind tore leaves from limbs of dying trees,
when from the graveyard far away a hell hound howled.
“This night the ghosts are out”, the landlord said and locked
the door; I did not answer; I just sipped my beer,
and waited for this night to pass, the room was filled
with listless souls and darkness creeped across the floor.

The minutes moved on leaden feet and hours crawled
through dust and silt until the muted clock struck twelve.
There was a stir among the souls when suddenly, a shot.
The landlord gasped when from the darkest corner rose
a face of such angelic beauty never seen.

We couldn’t tell when this amazing creature came,
We didn’t know its nature, whether man or beast,
we only knew to bow and hope and on our knees
we begged for mercy, pleaded as it drew its sword
and slayed us one by one without a single word.

When morning tiptoed through the room, I woke to see
the landlord’s headless torso splayed across a stool,
the floor was red with blood and all but me were dead.
I stared in dread at all the death the beast had caused,
when I felt the cold of steel, my hand around the hilt.
I’m demon now and brightness of the daylight stings.

The angel crying

Tonight it’s Halloween, and tomorrow Open Link Night at dVerse. I thought a little darkness told in meter would be fun to link up. Happy nightmares.
—
November 1, 2018

22 responses to “Daylight stings”

Very dark and gory too.

Truly dark, but some great lines…I like “the minutes moved on leaden feet, hours moved through dust and silt”

Nice twist ending, but some confusion for me as the narrator “saw” the bright creature, and kneeled before it; when he became a demon was unclear. Lively and dark narrative though.

Nice dark poem befitting Halloween. I like the pace of this. Gory too.

Oooh this is deliciously dark, Bjorn! The closing left me wanting to know more! 🙂

How unexpected…a scary surprise…

Ooh, I like that — the premise of having become the demon works very well, and the way you capture the interest and create the eerie atmosphere is wonderful. I got a very Poe-like vibe in the first two stanzas. 🙂

Thank you for posting such a deliciously dark poem, Björn – I missed Halloween yesterday and I was hoping I’d catch up today! I love the title, the Gothic setting and the sound effects of raging wind and howling hell hound, as well as the wonderful personification in ‘The minutes moved on leaden feet and hours crawled / through dust and silt’ and ‘When morning tiptoed through the room’.And what a shocking ending!

Wow! Perfect for Halloween.

Wow! Fantastic Bjorn!

Nice twist at the end and this ominous warning from the landlord: ““This night the ghosts are out”, the landlord said and locked
the door”

What a twist in the ending Bjorn. Just a gory and dark write, all told with ghoulish glee. Enjoy your concert and weekend.

Terrifying and dark. I enjoyed this piece.

This was a right bit of fun – and wow, you certainly created a wonderful scene. This tale has the markings of Poe in it – which means I really liked it. There are such wonderful descriptive lines and I really loved the 3rd stanza – it really stands out for me.

Great tale and I did enjoy the twist – the transformation of the “narrator” – and fascinating how you’ve left its actual “voice” vague – we’re never sure if initially it is person, we assume as much, so how, why the transformation etc. just ramps up the whole eerie feeling; lovely Gothic tones here 🙂