Silence strokes
her fingers across my throat
muting my words,
voiceless I choke
locked in a moment
time stands still
the key just beyond my reach
atop a monstrous hill
I struggle up the
steepest slope
just to find the answer
which is there, I hope
My voice is lost
and must be found
I slip and I fall
onto cold unyielding ground
the morbid raven
atop the dreaded mount
screams down at me
‘this obstacle you won’t surmount’
Do I have the courage,
to charge on through the pain?
Can I reach sanctuary
under the turbulent pounding of the rain?
The tumulus
is vast and cruel
my heart begins to doubt
that this demon, I can overrule
fear creeps in from without
regardless my resolve
refuses to falter
and as I claw to the summit
I come to a man,
his gun drawn from his holster
‘Turn back my friend’
he says to me
‘or else by death,
I will set you free’
I look down the barrel
of his gun, and though
he threatened me with blackest heart
I say one word and that was
…’No’