It was a cold and eerie Halloween—
A sallow moon half-hid by twisted trees;
The hearth’s orange glow cast shadows gaunt and lean
That writhed like corpses wakened by the breeze.
Outside, the wolves gave forth a starving moan,
The barn door groaned, torn loose from rusted latch;
Through window-panes, dark phantoms stalked alone,
As rats stirred deep in rafters’ worm-gnawed thatch.
A fortnight past, three witches burned at stake—
By torment wrung, they stared into my eyes;
Their shrieks still echo, haunting sleep and wake,
Stern whispered curses echoed in reprise.
Then hark! A hammering upon the door—
While wind borne cinders scattered on the floor.

© Loubert S Suddaby.  All Rights Reserved.

All joy is leased, and every heart’s desire,
A fleeting moment of eternity—
That grants the hope our yearning souls require,
Blissful visions of where we long to be.
That hallowed land where ever shines the sun,
Where rain falls never more than tears of joy,
And night—a velvet shadow, soft and warm,
To swaddle us until the dawn’s envoy
Shall call and wake us from celestial dreams,
Wherein again sweet Eden, now returned,
Shall paint the earth in gold and living green,
Reminding us of providence affirmed.
However brief this life, this joyous song—
We two shall dance in paradise, anon.

© Loubert S Suddaby.  All Rights Reserved.

I know you would not love me until death,
Though here, and still, I know I would love you.
You did betray me in sweet solemn breath—
That faithful whisper there of “Yes, I do.”
For me it was commitment, free of strings,
Save those that bind one soul unto another;
And now I feel it was for other things—
Perhaps more as a sister to a brother.
Or worse, perhaps, it proved transactional,
My monied truth hid in a purse of lies;
And you used sterling promise to fulfill
A prayer that sought a god in different skies.
How strange seems love when doubt stands in its stead,
And once proud beating hearts lie cold and dead.

© Loubert S Suddaby.  All Rights Reserved.

Is it your outer form that I prefer?
Your essence draws me like strange spiral memes,
That reach as far as Olduvai, I’m sure,
To flood my brain with dopamine—and dreams.
I felt my body twitch at your first sight,
My eyes grew wider than they had before;
Yet held I on with all my mortal might,
To fight that force that bade me find the floor.
Yet you are flesh and blood—no more I see,
By sight alone your power was bestowed
Upon that form which God or fate made—me—
Through puppet strings that humans know as love.
These messengers that inner script relays,
Now orchestrate life’s dance of wills and ways.

© Loubert S Suddaby.  All Roghts Reserved.