Contract

You know the price, you know the cost.
The mirror ’s broken, the innocence lost,
By blood or sweat, but by your hand.
You wrote your name, you made the brand.
The bill has come, the check is due.
How it all ends? That was up to you.

Reprieve

Once a year is permitted me
To break loose be wild and free
I may dance I may sing
I may perchance do anything
I’ll slay dragons. I’ll raise the dead.
When it’s over I’ll go to bed.
And with the rising of the sun,
The world will know that it won.
The magic will fade and I’ll be me,
All that’s left’s a memory.

Shhhh...

I am scarred from head to foot
My face and arms are so like soot
Ashen grey or so it seems
A creature of dark night dreams
I bide my time, I wait my chance
Death ’s a partner in this dance
Maypole fair to rosebud black
The Devil’s prison soon will crack
Light the candles, say your prayers
I soon will release you from your cares

Bargain

I am beckoned by the Gates of Hell
This soul I am come to sell
At thirty silvers I’ll set my price
I’ll buy my way to paradise
By cunning and guile, I’ll make my way
And for what I’ve done this soul will pay
But come with me and you will see
The way by which you can be free
I’ll show you fortune, I’ll show you fame
When I’m done, they’ll know your name
Take my hand, do not fear
That’s just the Gates of Hell you hear.

It Comes

As I walk with thoughts of horror in my head,
I turn my mind to evil and all that I dread.
Will it be a spider or a foul and wicked ghoul?
Or will I open the gates of Hell in an elementary school?
Have the dead risen or has magic turned?
Have I gone insane as my soul burned?
Do the walls whisper? Do the trees creep?
Do the days grow crisper as the angels sleep?
Blood is on my hands and murder ’s in my eye,
And when I finally lift my pen, sanity will die.

And so it begins

In the darkness of the dawn
by pen and shaky hand was drawn
an image that I shan't forget
a creepy, vile silhouette.
With menace I saw it move,
as from the page to remove.
Trapped and stuck, I sat entranced
all the while this evil danced.
Wisps of smoke this flowing ink
searching, crawling, on the brink.
On the edge it won free,
stretching, growing like a tree.
Cross the table it took root,
cross the floor and through my boot.
It squeezed my skin, pricked my flesh.
It withdrew and grew, attacked afresh.
Like an oil beneath the skin,
I felt it spread and grow within.
The light grew dark, my eyes grew dim,
I drew a breath at its whim.
I left the page a clean white sheen,
with all I'd been trapped between.