It Ain’t about Christmas

It Ain’t about Christmas

 
“The Raven” ain’t no Christmas narrative.
It is set in the bleak December, though.
Trapped in a world that he cannot forgive,
The Speaker lets his self-destruction grow
By asking questions that he ought to know
Will twist him into shapes of hopelessness.
The Raven’s simple answers, there for show,
Are, as the reader learns, not hard to guess.
Guy wants to hear his dark guest croaking yes.
Instead, it’s “nevermore” and “nevermore.”
Predictably, our man ends up a mess.
The Raven hangs around above the door.
Mournful remembrance, folks: that’s where it’s at.
Ha! Have a Happy New Year after that!

 
–Tom Riley

 

(Illustration by Gustave Doré.)

Raven (Short Version)

The Raven (Short Version)

 

 

In his chamber, he chats with a bird.
By the word “nevermore,” he is stirred
to a state of despair–
for Lenore just ain’t there.
Grief like that cannot long be deferred.

 

 

–Tom Riley

Poe’s Dead Ladies

Poe’s Dead Ladies

 

 

Though they were never Ivory girls, they’re clean

As wind-washed, rain-rinsed marble: I have grown

To love them and to love the way they stay

Forever out of reach of Poe and me.

Though they are past the point of speech, they say

The damnedest things in silence: I have known

True love – ill-fated, somber, and pristine—

Only in sight of them, outside their arms.

Though they are virgins now, though they will be

Virgins forever, they pronounced the doom

Upon my precious, pimply innocence.

And though I spend my life counting their charms,

I see their chief attraction: ever since

I’ve known them, they’ve been safely in the tomb.

 

 

–Tom Riley

 

 

(First appeared in Star*Line, May-June 1988.)