The Red Joy at Last
On battlefields he'd watched it spray
Spattering cross his face
Slickening his hold on the
Pommel as he swung
His horse's hooves swirled the
Russet color of it
Sucking through mud and men's sodden hair
Floating facedown
The smell of it
Clings to his memory
Slime of a man
Swiped from his cheek
He'd seen this look before
Most often from a height
The solid weight of warhorse
Dearer than a lover
Now he steps close
Fear rich as lust
He hears the heart clench
Pulse like rain on his tongue
Shining terror turns
Blue eyes into torch flame
Lighting his way
To the feast
Fangs descend against lips
Curling back
Arms pull the trembling man close
Dearer than a lover
The night's battle looms
No sword for such as he
Could this man have been
A shield brother once?
His worth shines like gold
Twin points sink deep
He sighs as he tastes of
The red joy at last
Copyright - Julia Smith - October 28, 2007
Your poem makes me thing of a a man on a battlefield slowly changing into a werewolf... And I like the way you express the changements in his mood...
ReplyDeleteSpooky! Excellent!
ReplyDeleteWow... love the images!
ReplyDeleteI liked the way it develops slowly.. Great wpost!
ReplyDeleteThe images are spooky...very well crafted!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's a twist I wasn't expecting! Very vivid and real, Julia. Great one!
ReplyDeletewahoo! that was freaking AWESOME!!!
ReplyDeleteloved this:
"The smell of it
Clings to his memory
Slime of a man
Swiped from his cheek"
you rock Julia!
Julia, wow, this is amazing. Spooky and very vivid...I LOVED it!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
ReplyDeleteVery Vivid, it's sort of stomach wrenching.
ReplyDeleteyep.......that was kickass.........red joy.......i never thought of it as such......but it's probably just cause i see it all the time in the ER.......
ReplyDeleteAs a lover of all things vampire, I loved the turn this took in the end. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteYou have such a way with words, Julia. Great poem. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Julia - Perfect poem for Halloween!
ReplyDeleteThanks for cruising over to my blog. I don't think I've been on yours before.
I see you've got The Golden Compass on your challenge list - one of my favourite books. You may as well buy the other two in the series now, because once you finish one, you'll want to dive right into the next one.
And you are one of the only other people I know who watched The Prisoner!! No one ever knows what I'm talking about. I loved that show when I was growing up!
Love that foggy picture of the tree - awesome!
ReplyDeleteI like the emphasis on the red color.
ReplyDeleteYikes. Way up there on the 'scare the be-je-bahs-outta-yah' meter!!!!!
ReplyDelete