Hell’s Bales

Uncategorized 1 Minute

Demonic scythemen are abroad,

roaming and reaping, home to home,

feared by folks as though each a god

invoked from an old pagan tome.

Wise villagers will keep indoors,

praying throughout Samhain night,

away from the fields and the moors

where sickles gleam with hellish light.

To and fro, the imp reapers swing

black blades amidst the bloody yield—

pauper, pope, merchant, whore and king—

Man falling as wheat in a field.

They amass bales to feed their steeds,

those horses that snort smoke and flame.

Wherefrom? Hell!  The infernal breeds

bear them up for damnation games,

bursting forth from the flaming depths

amidst plumes of sulphur and fire

like silos alight, these seraphs

fallen to the abyssal pyre.

And what bales amassed!  Wound and bound

with the bodies of those thus reaped,

flesh and soul spiraled round and round—

bone and blood and sin as one heaped

to keep hale the mounts of the Pit

during times of better peoples;

the lean, famine seasons, to wit,

when hearts rise higher than steeples—

those Renaissance times of the soul

when Man aspires beyond himself,

working at wonders for the whole

and starving Hell of its vast wealth

till such beasts as in Hell’s stables

must lay down, famished and bereft

beneath the gargoyled gables

where rider, too, walks with feet cleft,

each taking a nap, for a time,

to await harvests yet to come,

for Sin is a generous clime

that returns throughout a kingdom.

Published by tanglerootblog

Stephen Marshall. Writer, illustrator, layabout. Find him on Amazon, maybe. He has paperback and kindle books listed there. He also writes Supernatural Romance under the name S.C. Foster (because his fiancee pushed him to do so). He seems to have a knack for the Romance genre, much to his chagrin. Having pursued Children's literature he is particularly proud of his Children's novel series "Lost And Found", which begins with "Chloe Among The Clover", continues recently with "Stormy Within The Strawberry Patch" and may, in some future potentiality, culminate with "Candice Through The Picket Fence". These are novels for children (including his insistent nephew), but they are also written for adults who are children at heart. His short story collection, "The Eldritch Diaries", centers primarily upon Cosmic Horror and Body Horror, combining Lovecraft's mythos with the motifs of Sigmund Freud. His largest poetry collection, "Broken Crown Kings", contains over two hundred poems and two short novellas concerning the fleeting nature of the world and Man's place within it. Recently he has published a smaller book of poetry concerning Kentucky, Moonshine, and Ghosts called "Moonshine And Spirit Chasers". A much larger collection, entitled '"Nevermore" 99 Rhymes For $0.99' is also available. For those seeking supernatural and folklore, his collection "Weeping Cherry" is available also. https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Marshall/e/B07536QKD9?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_fkmrnull_1&qid=1554215427&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

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