'Masque of the Red Death' Lost Verse Tribute to Edgar Allen Poe

by Jeffrey T. Bender

Upon the next night's darkened hour,
Surprised by the stench of death's sweet sour,
burst an organized group of town militia,
to discover the symptoms of the lord's dementia.

A brightly tinted, green foyer
invited their eyes to a harsh display.
Dancing across the gilded walls,
an angry red slash crawled down the halls.

With the twisted torment of a silent scream,
and the endless fall in a night's bad dream,
the militia began their drawn out search.
Unknowingly they walked,
toward death's cold perch.

Through the apartments they made their way
To find the dead in their Riga Morte.
Realizing this was the red death,
The leader out cried "Coudate!"

And the militia turned, to find the one,
from which the infliction had begun.
Blankly staring he stumbled toward them.
And the leader came forth, his expression grim,
to take hold of the sick one by the flesh of his face.

And ever so willing be it
that which inflicts the doomed;
did the boiled masque slip
and come away red festooned.

And alas, yet again, out rang the ominous tolling of that cursed clock!
Twelve sorrowful counts it tolled, it tolled.
Marking the inevitable end that the militia was bestowed.

As though contained within one head,
in bloody silence they thus wept.
A new sacrifice to the dancing death bed.
Rigidly ever after, the militia slept.

From: 
Fountain, Colorado




ABOUT THE POET ~
I was born in 1986 in Mtn. Home, Idaho. I began writing poems at the age of 15, my freshman year of high school, in 2001, with the poem 'Mind Decay'. Mind Decay is a 14 line Shakespearean style sonnet about the capabilities of one mind to alter the world. Some of my poems are love based, but many others are based around grand themes such as revolution, or space exploration, or alternate realities. Much of my poetry is fiction with an underlying message of reality tucked in.


Last updated September 08, 2011