In cadenced fury
Tremendous swells
Ravaged the shoreline.
Roosted atop jagged cliffs
A weathered cottage creaked
In quicksilver winds.
Even the fearless
Would be foolish
To venture out on
A night that clawed
At the senses as darkly as this ……

A sudden punctuated
Knocking rattled the wooden door.
Jolted from dreams, my tired bleary eyes
Focused on a twisted human face squinting
Through the window; his wet cloak clung to him;
The pounding became frenzied.
“What do you want?” I blurted in affected tenor
“Sanctuary,” a darkened voice growled

In that instant
My life flashed in
Brief sketches before my eyes;
A kaleidoscope of grainy grays and
Superable images washed through me;
Something was amiss, terribly amiss

As sharpened steel this sinister
Sound had somehow sliced through the
Aging gristle of sedentary ramparts, and then,
To worsen matters, a sense of inadequacy was devouring
Me now in great gulps; I felt vulnerable, condemned, doomed.
Again the perfervid knocking jarred my nerves.
“A moment please,” I cried out, nervously
Fumbling for my slippers

Outside, as vivid white lightening
Etched the atmosphere in hot traceries,
Thunder exploded like cannonade in battle.
Clammy voices were murmuring (in my brain)
Doleful elegies to one banished now to the far
Doldrums of Horse Latitudes

In that small window the
Waning fire was casting eerie
Shadows on a weatherworn face; his
Stringy hair danced wet in blustering wind

Again the door shook and
Old hinges groaned in protest.
“What do you want?” I cried out despairingly.
“SANCTUARY” The voice roared maniacally.
“There is no room and I am not alone,” was my courageous reply,
“I am armed fiend, so be gone, and take your accursed turmoil with you!”
Cursing me bitterly, the figure turned and vanished into the darkness.
Soon thereafter the fierceness of all I had imagined lessened.

richard lloyd cederberg
3/2010
   A Monumental Journey Novels