I met a lady long ago in a heaven far away.
The beings, the divine ones, worshiped and crowned her-
Mother of man, empress of Eden, savior, and preserver of sin.
A doorway, the others rumored, to something new and fortuned to be fiendish.
Her skin was like milk, her hair fell in curls, and her eyes were ablaze with light.
She drank from a cup made of gold and laden with life, youth, and death.
In the distance I stood, I watched, I noticed- the cycle:
Drink, absorb, emit, preserve, birth.
. . .
It was at this moment I beheld a man, a curious fellow indeed.
His skin resembled rot, his hair fell in points, and his eyes smoldered in black.
This man, this ruler of fiends, stood beside the lady, watching with curious intent.
Again, as if in tune with time, there was the cycle:
Drink, absorb, emit, preserve, birth.
. . .
Sound suddenly soared through my ears;
A devil, this man, was laughing at the empress!
The laugh was not of fun, but of evil and mischief- of sin and death.
The cycle began again, only this time, I observed a change.
No emission of light through her eyes.
No absorption and preservation of sin.
No birth of light creatures.
No birth of the divine.
No birth of man.
. . .
The divine chalice dropped, shattered, and smoldered in black amongst dirt.
A twilight chill ran through my bones; I cursed aloud,
“Hell and earth shall slumber in the same bed tonight!”
— ©Sarah Ashley, www.paintitrogue.blogspot.com