Harvest Dances

The lantern of the moon hangs high,

A table is cleared of cloth and bone, the orchestra wheezing to life with a sigh.

It's been ages since you and I last met, and I curse meeting you here, again, today.

How long was it since the day before,

You telling me you'd for all the world rather sit and watch the stars

Then contemplate the lonely fate of one such as I, so dispassionate and bizarre?

But for this one night all our feelings -

These petty hatreds and jealousies may

Sit and rot for all I care, as I swallow this demon pride; And with a crooked smile long of tooth

Ask if you would share the pleasure of this dance, tonight.

Oh! How cold the night air is as it brushes against my sleeves.

Your face is flush and cherry-red

As our bare feet crunch against the leaves.

Phantom piping flows in pantomime as the violinist howls -

Liquor and lust for nothing and none darkening the stubble on his face.

I could do better, I think, and your laughter twists in solemn dread

As I avoid your eyes and turn to the night sky with a scowl.

The band has began to pick up the pace,

A chorus of drunken tricksters,

Croaking disharmonies only they hear.

Why the smile on your lips is so wide, my dear

Only you can say -

But could it be that in this moment, you feel regret

Selfless guilt at your neglect,

Or elect, instead to put on a smile in the hopes of leading my heart astray..?

The sky is dark and the moon is well

Warded against words from you, and I excel

In cutting the lies from your lips before we've even spoke.

So!

Come on, let's dance until we're sick and the clouds are red

And morning has come and we've all dropped dead

This pandemic inside of me is gone

And sickened the self-righteousness from your bones.

Oh! What a cruel and cold look cleaves the kindess from your face,

Is autumn over so soon?

But the winter in your eyes does nothing for your grace,

Please, dance more like a man possessed

So that when my foot crushes yours to the dirt

There will be no time for you to rest

Save an end that will never come.

But as the crying of the crows whispers from the boughs,

And slumping dancers collapse against one another in exhaustion

Affecting happiness both fleeting and profound,

Yet, this demon music continues to sound, our waltz goes on.

Clapping from the sidelines picks up as you began to slack

This is entertainment, it must last at least until dawn!..

Now that you have some encouragement -

Look anywhere but at me - look only at me.

And all the things I ever wanted to say

I've quite forgotten over time.

But it doesn't matter, anyway

Because, in this moment, you are mine.

Can you hear the laughter from the crowd all around?

The playing of the tiring band, the drowning of the sound?

They laugh at you laughing with me, a spectacle - nothing more.

If my nails break your back, if you smell of smoke and bitter hate;

If as our movements falter, your knees bend and quake

If your courtesy gives way to rage, and your mind tries to think of ways to slake

This embarrasment you feel, drenched with gore

As (in effigy) you pluck my eyelashes from their brow,

Know this - it is a millionth of what I've felt and feel towards you, whom I adore.

Oh! How cold is your expression as it brushes against my cheek -

I'll treasure this moment forever,

Until I forget about it and forget about you.

You'll soon be free of my peculularities, this sense of exhaustion and malaise

Hanging about me that seems to so strangle your upward mobility

Blocking the kind of vocal agility that lets you lick clean their shoes as your begging fades

Creating this sense of fragile hostility that shatters in this moment -

Still unbroken.

And as the sun rises and the hooting stops, as the crowds disperse and all the props

Remove themselves from this rural land, I'll savor the sensation of your hand in my hand

Knowing that this moment will never come again - soon spring will be here and you'll be gone

Stories of that troublesome bitch passed on to your new friends who will -

With a smile and laugh

Nod and share your sympathies with deepest concern.

The relief in your eyes is clear, and with a smile as generous as you must feel, it swallows up your fear.

"It was fun," you began to say, eyes looking to the left and right -

As you realize neither tables nor crowds have retreated into the night.

But the dark isn't over and you I are not alone, and as I feel merriment well up inside me,

I'll dance upon your bone, as - with a sickeningly pleasant crack

The crackling of your flesh and breaking of your back

The knives and axes and gentle tools began to show their face

For tonight is the Harvest dance, and the harvest is yet to erase

The realization from your eyes as panic grips your screams

But it is too late for you, sweet gentle one - a toast to the Harvest, and to the moon!

Oh! How gentle the taste is, of fresh flesh so cherry-red!

How inspired the musicians, how inspiring are the dead!

We share fine glasses of finer brandies and began to dance once more,

For the evening will not end here until the last drop has been wrought clear

This demon hunger satiated, our laughter going 'till our throats are sore.

And in the end, the Harvest dances succesfully revere

The old joys and the old ways, and I only regret a slight

Pang of jealousy that clings to my crooked teeth

That I had to share you, tonight.