October clay-foot darkness walks
behind my shadow darkly,
with labored breath, he never talks,
he’s hungry, leer is sparkly.
He scrapes my skin with finger-twigs
leaves me dreamless, barren,
nowhere to turn, my end is near, I dig
my hollow where I call for Charon,
Consuming flesh and breaking bones
my ruler, dear October
hissing pale-mooned piling stones
on graves; I can’t stay sober.
This my destiny; a lightless death
a lepers rot — but gently
he poisons blood, bereaved of breath
he’s kissing me intently.
Today we have a guest host at dVerse, Lucy wants us to write a dark ballad and I did my best…
October 6, 2020
Björn Rudbergs writings 
This is chilling and melodic at the same time, Bjorn: wonderfully atmospheric and creepy, Welcome the Dark Side!
I love this, especially the final stanza:
“This my destiny; a lightless death
a lepers rot — but gently
he poisons blood, bereaved of breath
he’s kissing me intently.”
It’s dark and perfectly entwined with October scenery. Just so much darkness, what is there not to like? It is honestly so impactful from start to finish, this poem; it’s incredibly haunting and of course dark! 😀
Writing dark poetry is both fun and solemn for me, but mainly solemn. You get to channel all those hidden or captive emotions and breathe through them on the page. Memories, conflicted emotions, grief, there’s so much to cover.
Beautifully written.
The vacillating degrees of despair/decay next to the uneasy atmosphere of a lover’s/stalker’s tryst is a mesmerizing spiral into submission/subjugation. Blown away by the imagery, Bjorn.
Very lyrical and creepy. Perfect!
Shivers of ghostly hissing and clay-foot darkness on that choice of one’s path. The ending is kiss of death & bleeding devotion. You did well Bjorn as your writing can tackle dark themes with ease.
That image is so eerie, Björn – one tree seems to be whispering to the other, but it looks rather menacing. I love the phrase ‘October clay-foot darkness’, it describes the gloom we had this evening perfectly, and I enjoyed the personification – ‘consuming flesh and breaking bones’ is alarming.
Tingling up my spine on that one. The idea of being stalked and consumed by a ravenous season is darned creepy!
Brilliant piece of poetry. 🙂
There’s a little bit of vampiring happening here, I think. Deliciously dark and creepy. More November than October, though?
My goodness this is absolutely stunning, Bjorn! 😀 I especially love; “he poisons blood, bereaved of breath he’s kissing me intently.” Darkly passionate write! 💝
By the time I finished Stanza2, Bjorn, I was totally blown away. When I finished reading, My Beloved Sandra asked if I was OK because I was sitting there, reading, jaw-dropped.
A well-crafted masterpiece oozing with eerieness and darkness, Bjorn.
Haunting, your rhyme scheme gives it the lyrical feel of impeding darkness. Piling stones on graves makes me think of a grave digger.
Eerie, haunting – a Bjorn poem. Love the way you do words.
A chilling tale,Bjorn Eerie trees!
A chilling tale,Bjorn Eerie trees!
Your use of October’s coming as a metaphor for Covid is excellent…
Love and death entwined – I shuddered at the last line – and those creepy trees – Redon also brought us spiders and other creepies from the unconscious.
This has a nasty flesh-crawly feel to it!
Dark but powerful Bjorn stayed right with the spirit of the prompt. Very well written. I enjoyed it!
Dark and creepy but hauntingly beautiful. Wonderful ballad!
You certainly captured the essence of Styx in this spooky poem!
That last stanza is so powerful Bjorn.
Wonderfully dark, but melodic (and creepy.)
I’m not familiar with that Redon painting, but it’s perfect.
kaykuala
This my destiny; a lightless death
a lepers rot — but gently
he poisons blood, bereaved of breath
he’s kissing me intently.
It gets frighteningly creepy to be hugged by death throes at the end. Chillingly great Bjorn!
Hank
You did a great job!
Deliciously macabre!! Fantastic! I love it.
lol deliciously dark was my instant thought …