The Graveyard

The Graveyard by Mila Strictzer

Quando noe fummo fatti tanto avante,
ch'al mio maestro piacque di mostarmi
la creatura ch'ebbe il bel sembiante,

d'innanzi mi si tolse e fe restarmi,
"Ecco Dite," dicendo, "ed ecco il loco
ove convien che di fortezza t'armi."

Com' io divenni allor gelato e fioco,
nol dimandar, lettor, ch' i' non lo scrivo,
pero ch'ogne parlar sarebbe poco.

Io non mori' e non rimasi vivo;
pensa oggimai per te, s'hai fior d'ingegno,
qual io dicenni, d'uno e d'altro privo

Inferno, Canto XXXIV

I.

At the edge of the universe there is a low stone wall
A million lines of poetic verse could not fathom how tall

Though once surmounted, you'd walk along it, never reaching
tomorrow
Longer than white-eyed dead stalk, whose sorrowful dreams you should
borrow

Heavy dark air would smother over your soul's blind face like a
pillow
And somewhere along you would discover a tree of weeping willow

At that place, it's imperative to pause, and quietly, a prayer
whisper
For this favorite relative is the devil's insane half-sister

I do not portend what action to take, though observe for winged
harpies
And no sudden movement make, as above lie legions of unseen
rookeries

And if you get lost, but listlessly drift, as your mind's other, darker
side
Shall appear to have with you rift, when it has only suddenly
died

Windward of the wall is forever, leeward of it is the end of time
Like how edges of a painting sever, so too limit does this rhyme

II.

I saw two horsemen there, beyond the wall, still as darkness,
I was a marionette where tethers were remiss

They wore purple cloaks with heavy cowls, covered head to foot with
large, white stars
Steeds coughed blood from diseased bowels. stallion and mare of cruel
Mars

The left rider click clacked up to my face, he spoke in a gargled
voice,
whilst my heart alarmingly raced, "Though your silent teardrops be
moist

you are locked within this spinning cosmos as time's frozen numb
capsule
amidst the circles of hell's lows and his castle's outermost
vestibule

to bow before It, my master, this no illusion, you will feel pain
and less time waiting, will be faster shadows your eyes envelop as
rain."

He grasped for his whip; it cracked and around my chest tightly
bound
Jerked the reins to his shoulder's tip, and dragging my feet, I heard
sound

I saw ruins, covered in moss, near a stagnant pond, then the path
went
Past rivers of fire, and beyond, metal gates, gnarled and bent

Carved in iron, brass, gold and silver were wyvern, imp, and
clytemnestra
Battles lost, execution, and souls a burn adorned each metal
vista

Tales of horror, woe, and gargoyle statue; demon eyes like a
wizards'
I was a pawn in diabolic pews; cold came like a creeping
blizzards'

Sharp rocks cut my face, dull pain tingling; my ears were in a high
pitch ringing
From enchanted darkness came singing and a steady, dull metal
pinging

Bruised veins oozed dark red blood and clothes I wore were ragged and
tore
My only thought was what was in store, being led by twain, atrocious
boar

Struggling to stay alive as a train stopping, all I felt was maim
My heart and hope were dropping fast as the animal I'd been made
tame

I groaned how doubt lingers, finding my left hand had two broken
fingers
And then I heard ominous doorbell ringers, undulating like
blinkers

Filth and dirt touched my tongues tip, blackened snow lay in some
places
Then the right rider laughed maddeningly and I saw both of their
faces

My journey paused in a courtyard wide where fate seemed already
set
I heard rustling and steps; the belt fell at my side where the wretches
met

Then opened a well-carved, oaken door to naught by emptiness'
whore
I did not know what she was there for, yet quickly, I wanted her the
more

Her hair rustled as wind blown prairie wheat; skin layered in milk
sweet
She walked up to the ghouls; her feet wore soft sandals, caressing the
street

Her mauve dress swayed and I swooned, on virgin lakes chasing a
loon
The rising numb lassitude of doom, my soul gagged like a silver
spoon

She walked right to one gruesome wretch, oh how I can never
forget
What she said to one Them; eyes set harshly, as if chastising a
pet

"What have you two fools done to my guest, this bruised and bloody
young one?
I'll have your souls redone, and once more burned by the evilest of
sun

in that fire you will forever boil, your indigence makes me roil!
he must be lathered, scrubbed, and rubbed in oil! Go forth, make
toil!"

I collapsed, lying facedown in the dirty dust of the courtyard
Twenty voices screamed, or thirty, in my own private mental ward

III.

I woke in a room of pearl and tapestries unfurl
Candleholders delicate curl; mind not awhirl

A ripe plumb, half-bitten, rested on ivory near burgundy mitten
Silken linen lay, and written in her eyes, was my desire smitten

I saw a thousand and one stars, my body was neither near nor far
Healed were my scars, and together in one were two bodies that were
our

For some time blackness, and then sight slowly returned like rising
pond scum
My body had complete control of this madness and held my mind
dumb

I felt unsteady ground give way; it was night and darkness, no
day
With no words to say, I was lying in the sand of an island caye

An earthquake of joy began to rumble and my footing did stumble
At the end of a round tunnel a light poured as if through a
funnel

I felt some pain, so real was the release, and wished dreams could
control the day
She was consistency of grease, and spoke knowing I had no words to
say

"What is your name?" she begun, "I am Persephone, the wife of the
devil."
Fear stricken numb, I quickly put feet on the floor to make my head
level

I saw two doors: one near, by the bed, and one far, near the
tapestries
I could not believe what she said, was I but one of her
casualties?

I bolted to the door like a colt 'one tree, I can get in a holt.'
Out my eye, light was fading by tenfold 'just make this,' I myself
told

Driving for knob, "and I glad you came!" cried exacerbated
pleading
She began to quietly sob, "please lover, don't go!" my tension
seething

"I love you, what's your name?" she pined; I grasped and turned brass
handle
"I fear you all the same," I mumbled, knocking down two burning
candle

Flew the door open and disappeared to daunting hallway darkness
In a tightened gloom, my senses reappeared; I was a black leopard-no
less

IV.

In the oblivion ahead, for I could see nothing
I felt presence out there; sentient, simian being

"Hello, is there anybody in there?" I asked nervously, and waited
"Hello...there," Echo's reply gave me a scare so strong I nearly
fainted

"Hello, is there anyone home?" I asked, but came no reply this
time
"Hello...is there anybody out there?" replied a sleepless, eerie
rhyme

My doppelganger called me, but his voice was different than mine
My Nemesis-this person I could not see-and I wanted some sign

"What is your name?" I hoped for a logical, coherent reply
"Narcissus," a pause, and this moping figure, on whom I rely

Lit a match, and a torch burst to flame; I was relieved he had a
name
Now, I felt he was a brother to me, like Cain, and I did not
complain

By his features, he was a boy as I, though his beauty greater than
mine
I studied him; his eyes flew by in contemplation, like a silent
mime

He wore belted tunic of a page, golden locks reached his shoulder
I might've mistook him for a mage, charming were his looks and voice a
purr

Ambivalence fell like clothing and I stood naked before this
person
"Do you know...?" I asked, loathing her whom had made my confusion
worsen

"Your goddess?" he said abruptly, "she's a curmudgeon concubine"
"Oh...well," I said subtly, at least I did not with a married woman
dine

"Want to go to the labyrinth?" He asked, wisp of evil over his
face
"What is...?" I asked, but was interrupted crisp; I did not want to
race

"Go!" His eyes turned red with anger, and he pointed down the
passageway
I whimpered a prayer to Christ in manger to see the light of day

The tunnel was six feet wide, the walls rocky dirt, like a coal miner's
shaft
He walked quietly at my side; I turned and saw light closing aft

I tripped on an adz, cursed in full, and wiped my furrowed brow
"Pasiphae made love to a bull, and with a knife let, out came no
cow

Daedalus, architect of words, built the labyrinth in his lifetime
inside, the minotaur curds his saliva," he explained in a whine,

"if you make it to the other side, you'll simply rise to the next
level
I will give you one hint; your guide is to be found around a
bevel."

I wanted to ask this iconoclastic idol why I was here
All that came was a spastic, "who am I?" He replied, this troll of
fear,

"You are the Master of Insanity." And I went into a porthole
Popping out like a manatee: dull-witted, confused, and slow to
roll

V.

Torches were alight up high, the rest was almost pitch black
I stepped forward, tight now, my fingers in pain rapt

I looked forward and behind, trying to keep my rising fear at bay
I turned a corner and met a small t, laying three choices my way

Primeval instincts, deep within, said to dread not the drawing
dreadnought
I blanketed myself with courage to begin searching for what I
sought

I went way of easier rhyme, to the right, and caught the faintest
music
Riding airways; around the next turn in sight, the beat was reggae [
sic ]

I moved to letter L, hugged tight, and looked around the corner
The scene before me might've easily hypnotized a coroner

There was Bob Marley wailing Running Away on a golden guitar
"Come ere rude boy," and I did as he say; his words straighter than
rebar

"Every need got an ego to feed," he said, and disappeared in air
Into that line I tried hard to read, and for a long time, got
nowhere

I kept hanging a right or a left, wondering if it was day or
night
Then at the end of a long tunnel of light bereft, I saw such a
sight

My eyes widened with horror full, the boy rode the ghastly
creature
The lower half a man; torso of a bull, burst from the shadowed, dark
lure

Durst the fiery red eyed demon, "Run! You're taking too forever
long!"
I ran and ran and ran, wondering if I'd find a way that wasn't
wrong

The bull kept pursuing-rapidly gaining-I thought what said the
prophet
And not turning around spoke, "Oh Narcissus, raining beauty, I
bet

Charon slowed his ferry as you gazed lastly at your shining face
muses came and took your body to bury, a flower was in its
place."

He lifted me by the scruff, across the beast's mane; we rode down
passageways
Stopped sharp, billy goat gruff, tossing me far, where night knows
naught of days

A last stone arched hallway, then a door, was the maze final
terminus
What really is an ending? I implore, had I taken the right bus?

I rose awkwardly, and watching the snorting bull, went to open the
door
On the other side, my vision went full; a scene more chaotic than
war

VI.

A rope untangled-this strange poem is a little weird
Vermilion sky wrangled over creatures running feared

Perpetual dusk or dawn, and cantering, crippled, turquoise
giraffes
Triceratops, sinewy and brawn, Bacchus' maidens with wine carafes

Chinese warrior statues, flailed by hippies with asphodel flowers
A molten golden river impaled the castle where It cowers

Atta plucked by praying mantis, his soul rent into tiny pieces
His religion amiss, along with his eyes, lying in his own feces

Ocelots gnawing on Nazi orgies; maelstrom, chaotic rule
Predicated; overhead, pterodactyl sorties flew in one school

I looked for a path, not wanting to s?ance with anything I saw
Though my curiosity often taunts my mind like a pug's fat paw

Then I heard behind me the same soothing, baritone voice of
prowess
There was my guide, wearing a dread mane. He said, "Ahead is Jah
fortress,

close your eyes a second and we'll fly over all Dis so you can meet
It."
We traveled by magic, I reckoned, my body was seizing in a fit

VII.
I stood on a drawbridge in front of a portcullis
Behind me, hell's descending ridge, those who'll never know bliss

I had only stepped inside, when something grabbed my wrist
We wrestled in the dark; abide at my side no more, I told my right
fist

And punched It in the face, but he got to pin me, so I slapped
ground
Three times and he did win, then I was laboriously moved around

And bound up in a straight jacket, kneeling in a dark, stale-aired
room
I began to cry, and tired of the racket, said, hoping for light
soon

"I want to leave this place called hell! When will I reach the bottom
of the well?
Are those heavy gongs I hear a church bell? What is its toll supposed
to tell?

All of you things or monsters or demons, or whatever you be, can just
go away
I don't need any reasons either, please, will somebody show me the
way?"

I made out two large figures dressed in white; they must've helped bind
me
Then one shined a flashlight right into my eyes so that I could not
see

I heard It's familiar voice resound beyond, through an uncertain
fog
Like the double redound of a ship's horn from within an ancient peat
bog

"I have been awaiting you, me; it's about time the two of we
got to talk; I'm sorry, but it was necessary to woo you here to
me."

I said, "just where is here? How are you reaching me with that sinister
leer?
Why does your voice sound so near? And hearing it like looking in a
mirror?"

"I am touched, branded even, that you feel so warm and beholden
things are better even-steven between us, you, that I've begotten

"You? We? I created you, you didn't create me," I tried to
explain,
"every time I try to ruminate the only thing I get is pain!"

"That reminds me of a little riddle, here's some accompanying
fiddle
Music! Pay attention! Or the middle of your face I'll spit my
spittle,

what precedes kings, an ambassador, oceans, apples, oranges,
bananas,
a solitary door, and the name of specific, sacred mantras?

but not warlords called out by name, subjective nouns, nor God in his
throne?
like us two, Poo's best friends (in the singular), also I; it sounds,"
and let slip a moan

"Stop! I don't know! I give up, you win, I must have committed a
sin
a long time ago to deserve this evil kin crawling under my skin"

"Guards, seize him!" he said and two burlesque nurses grabbed me by my
armpits
"Wait, I have one last request!" I yelled horse, at the end of my
wits

VIII.

We went to a chilly night; slim yellow moon sequestered
Above, and below, the ground left fellow and well weathered
I heard more voices in my head while the nurses led me straight
ahead
One kept repeating his name was Ted, another said I must be
well-bred

"Phantasmagoria wonderlust be haired of phi lycanthrope
your homeless soul spares no amount of teardrop's crucifix icy
slope"

Came a third and then another and so on until I gave up on hope
My mouth rambled in this insane mutter through my mind's backward
telescope

Leaves circled in a harsh wind and there lingered an evil feeling
My end had began to begin and it seemed nothing had meaning

The nurses methodically shackled iron chains to my wrist and
ankle
While my arms were still manacled and my extremities did rankle

But I noticed I had grown fangs and my skin burst all over in small
flames
So I gnawed off my straight jacket like eating tin, tossing those
reins

I threw the chain around one of the nurses' necks, popping it with a
snap
And then I roped the other's pecks like a rabbit in a snake's
wrap

And squeezed him to death with my tentacles, as would Dr. Octopus
His head exploded like a lab of meth and spilled down like
couscous

Then with my laser vision, I seared It's face until it melted
We separated by fission from being beings that'd been welded

So I raised my arms high and yelled, "Never clangor and thus
ranker
neither from Burma, Bangladesh, nor Bangor, the Duppy Conqueror!"

IX.

I was ignored and lay still in my cold hard bed
My will drained like a dry still by all that I've said

I hear screams from down the hallway but this time it is no
fantasy
I can't make out what they say, but strange words are their painful
rhapsody

Down the icy waters I drown, driven mad by their sound...