When the light dies
Entombed within a fallen log, she rots
Her flesh is yellowed and peels away from her bones in small clumps
Lace twists around her limbs, strips of a night sky without stars
Her howls are like that of a beast’s, echoing throughout the dark forest
She seems paralized within her shell of wood
But the night often echoes with the terrible scream of an animal snatched out of the fog
Daylight touches blood wiped across the cracked log
Ghastly tales fall from the lips of stooped old men
Retelling the legend in hopes of protecting their children’s children
Only one knows the true identity
Of that grotesque entity
He keeps the lanterns lit through night and day
Awaiting in fear for that moment
When her fingers will dance across the back of his neck
The skin blackened and crisp with decay
He is waiting, a shivering mass of man
Suffocated with guilt invoked by his sins and lies
He is waiting for that moment when the light must die…
::shrug:: Thought one of you might like it.