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The Night Caller

by Dimitri Rimsky

                    If Prometheus

                               Were Unbound

                                             where would he go?

                                 Would he return

                                              to the lover

                                                    to whose hearth

                                                           he first

                                                                   brought the fire?

                                  Would she be there

                                                          Waiting

                                                                   for him?

                                                                          Not likely

                                           Oh, at first

                                                      She stayed

                                                                 close to him

                                                         till the screams

                                                                 drove her Mad

                                                                                  with despair,

                                                         till the flapping wings

                                                                    haunted her sleep

                                                         till she could not face

                                                                            another day

                                                                                   of tending

                                                                                        an endless

                                                                                                  wound.

 

                                        

                                     So she took

                                                      the embers

                                                               And left him

                                                                             on his rock.

                                                                       left him  chained

                                                                              in the shadow

                                                                                         of the bird

                                                                       left him

                                                                               to suffer alone

                                                            He understood.

                                                                     He forgave her.

                                                               What else could he do?

 

                                

                               And she walked away

                                           till she couldn’t hear him

                                                                    screaming

                                              till the sun

                                                   cast no shadows over her

 

                                    Till she broke the chains

                                                                      of love

                                           and found a home

                                                                  in a distant

                                                                                  world

                                                and after some years

                                                                 she learned to sleep

                                                                                     without dreaming

 

             

         

 

 

                      So she was completely

                                       unprepared

                            When the knocking

                                                  in the night

                                     called her

                                               from the hearthside

                                     called her from her lover’s bed

                          Imagine her horror

                                        opening the door

                                                           to find him

                                                                  collapsed

                                                                      on the threshold

                                                            Gaping wound in his side

                                                      The dust swirling up

                                                                              in the wind

                                                                                      of the beating

                                                                                                         wings

                                 Imagine her horror

                                              standing there

                                                    when he looked

                                                                     up at her

                                                         imploring

                                                                  to be taken in.

                                              Safe from the reach

                                                               of the bloody beak.

 

 

 

 

                      What would you do?

                                       Oh certainly

                                               Your first instinct

                                                      would be to drag him in

                                          to place him

                                                          by the fire

                                                                  he suffered

                                                          for to clean his wounds

                                              to hold him

                                                       to cry over him

                                                                      to rock him

                                                                          in your arms

                               But what of her life

                                                           Now!

                                       What of the Man calling to her

                                                                   from a distant room?

                                           What of the terror

                                                          of the screaming

                                                                                  flapping

                                                                                        shadows

                                                   What of a future

                                                              forever pursued

                                                                             by relentless talons

                                                        

                                                            What of that!

                        

 

 

 

 

                                          No you think.

                                                      No-one

                                                            could be that cruel.

                                            But isn't it

                                                 crueler still

                                                        to ask her

                                                              to expect her

                                                                          to suffer

                                                                               forever with him?

                                                        Is the cost of love

                                                                          That high

                                                           Is that the price

                                                                  she must pay

                                                                                   for caring,

                                                                       must she go on paying

                                                                                                  forever?

                                                       Isn't it fair

                                                           that she too

                                                                     be unbound?

                                                          After all

                                                                 Wasn't it he

                                                                      Who defied

                                                                                     the law?

                                                                 Wasn't this really

                                                                               his punishment

                                                                                        and his alone?

                  She had only

                          complained of being cold!

                     She would have been as warm

                                         if he had stayed

                                                    And held her.

                             Wasn’t it he

                                    Who betrayed

                                                        Her!

                                 Wasn’t his grand

                                                    defiance

                                             really only an act

                                                        of vain glory?

 

                                     Wasn’t her heart broken

                                            Wasn’t once enough?

                                                  She'd done what she could

                                                                 But the screaming

                                                                         The black wings                                                                     

                                                                                 the blood

                                                                                     and anguish

                                                                       was too much.

                                 He called to her again

                                                               from a distant room

                                      and she closed the door.        

                                                  She would tell him

                                                           "It was only the wind. "