Graphic - Link to main index page Text and illustration graphic ©Jay Hayes-Light.
Any copying or publication without
his written permission is strictly prohibited.

Our secrets are dragons. They lie in wait to consume us with their fire.
This poem is a way of attempting to tame those fears that haunt us with
the distant hiss of fiery breath. The "mark of Cain" , cut by the lance of
truth, is cast upon all those who do not conform to society's stereotype.
Being true to one's self is usually at odds with what is expected of us.
The first child of Eden, cast out, but with us still, to warn that hypocrisy
will destroy us all.....

 

Step through the door, breathe the scene -
the light grows dim as winter pushes fall
to certain death on the solar rocks below.
Calm of mind and fierce in jest
I wish for nothing save another life
to cast in cleaner moulds, free of air
and touch the shadows as the year descends,
into a black abyss of free-for-all.

Temptation's threshold edges down
to touch the hem of truth, that trails
behind the disappearing form of life.
Light dappled, basking in the warmth
of thin approval, I twist and turn
and knots bite deep into my soul.
A casting- off of outer skin reveals
a wounded warrior beneath the veil.

Out of hearing the battle flags unfurl,
a distant horn conveys the conflict near.
Long channels of simple light converge,
to burn a message in unyielding stone,
that leaves for ever a mark of Cain
who killed for love of self his mirror form
and left the world a whipping boy,
who warns us all, that there be dragons here.

This is a small version of Jay's illustration -
to see the original in full size [127k]
click on the graphic.

 

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