Forest of Darkness

A Poem by Blake Kairos

This is not the title. Stop watching me.

FOREST OF DARKNESS………………………….………………………………………………………….............. July 28, 2014
1.            Days go creeping by,
But there’s still no sign,
Of my brother coming home again.
“He’s gone forever!” Wails his friend.

2.            I don’t believe,
The rumors are true.
Maybe he ran into the forest.
I decided to look through.

3.            So I packed for my journey,
I made a survival kit.
I had to find my brother,
And it would take a lot of wit.

4.            I left at next dawn’s light,
And into the woods I made my flight.
I walked deeper all day long,
Only comfort I had was in my heart a song.

5.            Then I notice how,
Night begins to fall.
The shadows move around me,
Appearing as a man who’s tall.

6.            His skin is white as snow.
A black coat and slacks,
Hide what do not show.
This sight makes my courage crack.

7.            His faceless head,
Fills me with dread.
I run quickly and when I turn ‘round,
He’s disappeared, not to be found.

8.            I shake off the illusion.
Convince myself that’s all it was.
Couldn’t have been real,
My sanity it does steal.

9.            Flashlight flickers, and goes out.
Against a tree, I start to pout.
If that monster is the culprit true,
Then I don’t know what I can do.

10.          Standing up I start to wander,
To defeat the monster I do ponder.
Suddenly, in the pale moonlight,
I see the back of brother, caught in fright.

11.          He turns around,
When I grab his shoulder.
I see his face,
My heart gets colder.

12.          His skin is pale,
His face gone too.
I whisper to myself,
“What’s this monster done to you?”

13.          I step away as tentacles black,
Begin to sprout from his back.
Then to my face,
He gives me a whack.

14.          Down my face,
Blood does pour.
He isn’t the same,
Anymore.

15.          He makes an attack,
I defend with my knife.
But despite my strife,
To survive, I end his life.

16.          In my arms, him I held,
The blood gushing in a pool.
I see the monster, lifelessly glad.
I wailed at the sky and cursed so sad,
“Why are you so cruel?”

17.          Slowly, the image fades away,
As light comes, bright as day.
Memories come rushing back to my head,
As my ‘brother’s’ figure turns to a friend, dead.

18.          Doctors noisily appear,
Wondering what the commotion was about.
I see their fear,
As they give a shout.

19.          They escort me,
Weaponless too,
A hurried rush,
Back to my room.

20.          Some nights I still am visited by him.
The monster my room in.
The pain from him I gain,
To real to seem to be but a dream.

21.          So remember now,
Because this is true,
Nothing is as it seems,
Hard to distinguish between dreams.

22.          ‘Till you drive yourself crazy,
In dead of night.
When you’re alone,
It’s hard to be right.

23.          Then you give up,
And seek for end to grief,
And with a gun,
You find relief.