For years I would go
To the House of Poe
In the city of Philadelphia
Locked up and dark
Near a formidable park
With never a way to enter
After a domestic fight
I ran from the light
To the dark house locked so tight
Walked through the city
The home didn’t look pretty
Heard the croak of a raven’s voice
My heart told the tale
As a black cat did sail
By the back door that opened for me
I entered alone
The door closed, I moaned
Peering into the dark of the room
Is that a coffin
Guarded by a raven
On a catafalque of seraphim?
Surrounding candles waver
I wish I was braver
But I’m frozen to the floorboards
I can see into another room
A pendulum swishing doom
As a wraith breaks through the wall
When suddenly a quiet man
Scratching paper with a quill pen
Looks up and nods to me
“My dear, come here
Please, do not fear
How nice to have a visitor”
The floorboards creak
As I try not to squeak
And I see it is Poe himself!
“Would you like a sip
Of Amontillado, just a nip
Or do you wish to meet my women?”
I follow his pointing finger
See what must be a dead ringer
For each of his finest ladies
There is Ligeia and Lenore
Annabelle, Madeline and more
All dressed in crumbling grave cloth
I turn my back
On the women in white and black
And seek out the man I desire
Normalcy seems to be
The best choice for me
So I say, “You’re my favorite poet!”
“Alas,” he replies
“No one else is so wise
I am not appreciated at all”
“But you are at this time
It is 1999
And see, here is a book honoring you”
“How odd!” is his cry
Why did they wait for me to die
Before I am accepted?”
Says I, “Fortune and fame
An impossible game
To succeed, even when planned
That’s why I write
With no hope in sight
But maybe someday I’ll have won.”
“I come here at night
Although I know I’m a wight
To write the perfect poem
So I’m wasting my time
Leaving Virginia behind
But I am famous already?”
Poe stood up to go
I begged him, “NO!
Please stay for a moment at least
What is it like in the afterlife
You actually are with your wife?”
He looked at me and said,
“Life is not always what we wish
It is suffering and anguish
And we think that death brings relief
But the lessons never cease
Alive, dead or somewhat at peace
We struggle night and day
The terror that we feel
In the life we think is real
Is merely a living fantasy”
“So let me get this straight
Nothing changes in our fate
Alive or dead, our path remains?”
“Until we get it right
There will be no rewrite
We wander through horror and joy.”
“And what must we learn?
Help me to discern
So life can be easier for me”
“I cannot help you through that door
We each fight our own war
I will return nevermore…”
And he was gone
Poe and all his spawn
And I stood alone in the House of Poe
© 2014 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
poeturja 