In the ocean fog

Behind the shadows —

of swirling mist,

Stalks a specter

With a seducer’s kiss.

Across the marshes

In the seeping sigh —

of his gray cloak cover,

Creeping softly forward

The specter seeks a lover.

In veiled silence

He searches the coast —

with crazed desire,

Hunting his prey

Through eyes of fire.

Mouth hungry wide

He moans in his lust —

with frosted breath,

And when he coughs

He coughs up death.

A hapless stroller

Overtaken unaware —

while walking alone,

Hears in her hollow pace

A soft sighing moan.

She stops startled

Her vision swallowed —

in fog tingling gray,

She crosses herself

And begins to pray.

For innocent thrills

She searched the coast road —

her fisherman lover,

But now in the fog

She has found another.

Or he has found her

Like some luckless fish —

in his gray seaweed shell,

It’s not the salt sea

It’s the smell of hell.

He creeps in closer

And studies her face —

the mole on  her cheek,

Her eyes flash horror

As she tries to speak.

But caught in her throat

Her christian verses —

stumble through the air,

She mumbles too late

Her soul-saving prayer.

She hurries forward

Toward her sweet home —

at the village gate,

But in losing her way

She finds her fate.

Sliding beside her

Her reaches for her hair —

but then he lingers,

And touches her neck

With icy fingers.

Categories: Poetry, Selection: Early Years