Hark!
A lone
Little
Black bird
Beckons
Familiar yet
It still sends
Shivers
Down my spine
Caw!
Hark, the
raven’s
call
I glance
Back
One
Becomes three
Their hideous
Black plumage
A dreadful
Sight
I begin
To sweat
At this growing
Cluster of black
Caw! Caw!
I glance
Three
Becomes
Seven
My soul
Is marked
A great debt
To be repaid
Death comes
To collect
Soon
Perhaps
Like the boatman
At Styx
Collecting coin
For passage
Caw! Caw!
Caw–
The room fills
With black like
An early morning mist
Rolls over the bog
Death comes
Closer
Death comes
Swift
Caw! Caw!
He laughs
A sinister laugh
“A life
For a life”
I try
To push through
To find
The light
Caw! Caw!
Caw!
“You can’t
escape me
twice”
he says
Caw!
I’m shrouded
By black
I am
Blinded
Unable
To move
A familiar
Feeling
I surrender
CAW!
Silence.
A deafening
silence.
Darkness
fades.
I awaken.
Hark!
A lone
little
bluejay
beckons
I glance
Around me
Sunlight
Fills the room
A nightmare
Relived
My demise
Delayed
But soon
They’ll be back
Again
And I will
Still cower
In fear
Death will
come again.
Death, my
dear friend.
Starving Artist, Struggling Musician 