Tempt the Devil

A taste of blood upon my lips,
The darkest night in my eyes,
The voices silenced for the first time
In how long I cannot recall.
The screams fading, faded, stilled,
Clarity of thought, horrified images,
Oh Gods, what have I done?
A slender wrist, stark paleness,
Intimate lover in my arms,
Even my lover could not charm me,
Drive my anger from me, so wrought was I!
In death should she succeed,
Where in life she failed,
The animals cower, the insects wait
In terror of what may come.
The blood rush to my head is thunderous,
Each drop a whirlwind, howling,
And screaming through my shivering body!
Could the night be so cold, so void
Of life, of light, of heat?
Or could it be only a mist of the purest darkness,
A veil through which I now viewed the world?
How frightening, how exhilarating!
My molten black gloves, glistening,
Not black, this I knew,
But with void of light comes void of color.
No longer could I shiver,
For I had become colder than my lover,
Pale, her gaze upon me, her tender lips,
Which had adored me, slightly parted
As if in expectance,
Her pose, in its entirety, arranged
As if in supplication, an offering,
For even now could she tempt me
Were I not already sated.
Whispers, uneasy and unsure,
A glimmer of my humanity,
Urging faintly through the hollows of my mind,
Yet I remained transfixed, unheeding,
For she was my first, my fresh-faced beauty,
Long resisted, long desired,
And I wished to remain as I was,
To take in every detail, every sensation.
One voice, a dozen, a multitude,
Driven away only to return,
Cursed me, spat the foulest language
From which I could not escape,
And I was shaken, humbled beneath the burden,
Once more chained, the splendor lost,
The moment over, onto my unsteady feet,
My lover left to contemplate the darkness,
To gaze upon the nothingness above, I stumbled,
I fell, I regained my feet and fled,
Retreated into the darkness that bore me,
Seeking refuge, my sanctuary in the shadows,
I could not escape what I had done
Any more than what I had become.
I would resist that which beckoned me,
Would resist until I was all but driven mad,
Until not even the voices could hold me,
Until my very flesh may rebel against me.
Innocence awaited my corruption,
Another lover to wither in my icy embrace.