Like a vampire
you had to be let in
I knew what you were
kept you at bay
but one night
laid low by other losses
I let you across the threshold
to lie with me
you bled me dry – almost
not all at once but daily
feeding but not enough
to feed your need
an amour fou
that even though I knew it
I could not break the spell
and when I was close to death
you moved on to fresh blood
though you hovered
on the periphery
for the odd feed
you never turned me
and yet though you are
far enough away now and I
am recovered
perfuse again
and have walled you off
in my mind
you have left your mark
for all time
as all lovers do
if lover you were
and I will never be
as I once was
innocent of all…
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
This week over at dVerse Poets Pub, dorahak in Quadrille invites us to write a poem on the undead – Vampires…
‘Give us a 44-word poem including the word “vampire” (or a derivative thereof, such as “vamp”)’
I just realised that I got confused at 4am in the middle of a sleep-broken night and wrote 144 words instead of 44 so not a quadrille but it needed writing…
Ha… 144 words… that’s gross (pun intended), still love it, and maybe you can cut it down to 44 words.
Love how you caught the part that a vampire has to be let in.
A tale — an exhumation even — of obsession and compulsion that’s left an indelible mark! Some “bites” are hard to recover from. “You moved on to fresh blood,” fills one with repugnance and at the same time, a sense of the lover’s amoral, overpowering need for new prey, power. I wonder what this poem would look like slimmed down to quadrille length, Drew. Just as an aside, you have till Saturday and the gauntlet has been thrown! 😀
I will see what I can do, Dora…
forever marked. i’ve felt this way before.
Anyone who has truly lived must possess a heart covered in scar tissue, Ren…
Not a quadrille, but
“you have left your mark
for all time
as all lovers do
if lover you were
and I will never be
as I once was
innocent of all…”
is very powerful.
Thanks, Merril – yes there is bit more to get your teeth into here (pun intended)…
It looks like the prompt word got you fired up, Andrew! Once you let them over the threshold, it’s impossible to get rid of a vampire – until they are sated.
That’s it exactly, Kim…