In The Crypt - Andrew Barham

Here I stand alone
In a pillar's dust I bare
A question written in stone
To shatter the night's cold air.

Standing in a circle of fire
I murmur an incantation
To the shadows lurking there
In silent condemnation

Soon, I awaken the memories I seek,
Shattered dreams floating in the air
To dispel the cold crypt's reek;
Tis the vision of a lady fair.

I watch in dazzled anticipation
This lady drawing near;
But my wonder turns to consternation
As I feel a prickle of fear.

For this lady forming from the mists
Is no enchantress fair;
A voice inside me insists
That it's daemon waiting there;

Her garments, like old parchment cling
To her wizened and shrunken frame
I shiver, as though from an ill wind's sting
As she enters the circle of flame.

Fires, like coals, glow in her hollow eyes
That sightlessly stare;
Her bony fingertips releasing flies
As they brush back her tangled hair;

Her voice is colder than the tomb
From which this daemon grew
Enshrouding the air with gloom
From whence this chill wind blew.

"I know your dreams
As you shall know mine
For this is an ancient theme
Lost in the mists of time;"

"But, before I speak,
I must ask you for the fee.
Only then the things you seek
Shall pass from out of me."

She waited, silent and grim
For me to weigh my decision
And all about me the flames grew dim
As the dream possessed my vision,

"I am but a poor man of labour,
And you the Master of Desire...
To win your favour,
I consign my soul to the fire."

"I seek only to know
The answer to an ancient theme,
Something I forgot long ago;
It was a message from a dream."

The fires blazed up around me
As the daemon drew
Me up above the night; high and free,
Into the air we flew;

We sailed away into the night
As the world passed below
With only the dim lunar light
To bath us in a feeble glow;

A whisper caught upon Night's cold breath
Blew devastatingly through my soul.
It spoke to me of Death
As through the air we stole,

And I longed to hear the angel's sigh
Before she slips away;
Alas, we flew up so high
I feared we'ld never see the day.

Oh how I longed to disperse the empty dark
Rushing below me so fast;
I'd never seen a land so stark
And I feared I could not much longer last ...

We reap the seeds of our emptiness
Where everything's the same,
And I never knew such loneliness
As when we pursued this deadly game,

And as we flew, a defiant cry
Broke in upon the deathly silence
`Is this how we die?'
I wondered, `Screaming in defiance?'

Images of this journey remain:
Visions of a shattered stream,
Lost souls wreathed in flames,
The night resounding with their screams.

We alighted in a land of smoke
Before an ancient hut.
"Open the door." The daemon spoke
And I hastened to obey the slut.

I pushed the door open wide
And entered her forsaken lair
To find the ancient crone inside
Sitting upon a golden chair.

She pointed to me and spoke
Of deeds terrible and cruel.
She told me of those dreams I'd invoked
And cursed me for a fool;

I'd found the knowledge I'd sought,
Those ancient memories within a dream
But this daemon with whom I fought
Had ensnared me in its schemes.

Fainting, I crashed heavily to a floor
Hardened by the passage of the years.
Staggering, I rose once more,
My face streaked with tears.

I muttered a curse to the empty air,
For the daemon had disappeared.
Was I forever lost in there?
Twas not the worst I feared;

I'd fallen into a spider's trap
Another fly to fulfil her schemes,
And though I struggled til my strength was sapped
I never learned the answer to my dreams.

Andrew Barham