Faded and Forgotten
Poem
by Gratian Summerland
I stepped around the corner and there he was,
standing where I expected no one to be,
so I was startled and I stumbled,
and I fell to my knees.
How ridiculous I felt,
acting like a frightened child.
I shook my head at my foolishness and looked up to see...
The way his hair fell about his face,
one eyebrow raised,
surveying my predicament with amusement and delight.
I was charmed, disarmed and maybe a little bit in love.
He stretched out his hand to pull me up,
it felt cool and strong,
he kept on pulling until,
I was pressed tightly to him.
He bent me backwards and,
turned me roughly to the side,
his kisses were desperate and hungry,
as if he were a starving man and I was a great and fancy feast.
Pleasure jolted through me like electricity,
then began to build in waves.
Slowly I became alive,
surely I had not been before.
Compared to this moment,
my entire life was no more than a pale dream.
Then he bit!
Deep into my neck,
and I could scarcely tell that I had been bitten,
the pain was so confused with ecstasy!
Then he sucked!
And I knew, and I cried out!
MONSTER!
Sobbing, I cried out,
again and again.
Do not take my life from me!
Just when I've found what it means to be alive!
Then, wondrously,
he loosed his hold on me,
and gently and so sadly,
he said;
You desire life, yet you do not live, not truly,
yours would be a life that is long but passionless,
and you would die a faded and forgotten old man.
Let us finish what we have started,
you will die, but you will die knowing what it means to be vibrant,
and your death will be a glorious masterpiece!
I forced a sound through my clenched teeth,
it sounded like a long, low, whispered
...noooooo...
so he dropped me in the gutter, and disappeared.
It was cold,
I looked up into the night sky,
it was a dull, flat black with only a few stars,
and they didn't twinkle at all.
Faded and Forgotten© COPYRIGHT 2004 Gratian Summerland.
Reproduction prohibited without permission from the author.
07/09/04
