Hidden Beauty (Cellar Door Poem)

Past shadows torment
and time twists in the dank darkness
of pelting winter rains.
Footsteps ascend stone stairs
and a yellowed candle glows stark
against wet slimy walls.

A stifled sob echoes
as irregular drips dangle
then splatter to the floor
and the candle flame flickers to fade
as with an eerie wail the cellar door closes.

Blackness envelops and sour musty scents
are swallowed as sobs intensify.
Cobwebs shudder in moonlight’s shadowed ray
while winter’s wind whistles
through the half broken grate
high in the west wall. Broken nails

scratch her sallow skin.
In a final attempt to escape the prison
she slips and tumbles
down the green stone stairs.

He came to her again that night
eagerness in every certain footstep.
When he saw her crumpled body
on the floor his heart lurched.
“No!” the roar reverberated.

He carried her up the stairs
out into the moonlight
her grey face lifted to the moon
and a last sigh settled in misted shadows.

Anger exploded
and he raged as revenge
glittered in steel eyes.
A rampaging ravaged wake
left barren his soul
dedicating all that might have been,
and all that never would be,
to his love.

The love he smothered, shut away
beauty, hidden
behind a dreary stone cellar door
hidden from other men’s eyes.