Halloween’s Inclement Love

They thought it was the kind of life

Everybody dreamed of.

Wild blueberries and cream every morning.

An array of windows

Allowing sunshine throughout.

A stroll on the beach at dusk

Each pebble drenched in the blood of sunset

Skinny dipping as darkness began

Some nights

They found themselves unsure

Of what should come next

Like trapped actors in a theatre of flames

With dark birds circling over their heads.

Even the distant pines suddenly became still

Save their needles quivering with fear

Then…

They’d be back on their balcony sipping cranberry martinis

Reminding themselves once again

Their days always end unhappily

With the vital-force hues of the day

Morphing into humanesque clouds overhead

Their grayness cloaking wanton needs

Spilling over into their bedtime escape

Rhapsodized…

A starless night

They float to light a candle

Carrying its gentle flame to bed

Only to witness it extinguish suddenly

As clouds and still pines

Coalesce in reality’s warning of end times

As self-deceptive imaginings

Of being alive

Continue only for the dead

Atop their resting place

A solitary raven preens