Tag: ninth circle

Poem: Free Verse – “Melinda’s Battle.” #amwritingpoetry


Written awhile back and not entirely sure what I meant, but have edited and see what you think?

Credit: Xuan Nyguyen via Unsplash.

Peering above the clouds,

Her mane in chopped disarray;

Melinda takes a vow, as her eyes blink glassy grey.

The eagles circle round,

There caws thrill in the dawn.

And all across the ground,

Her body is adorned, trails Velveteen-rouge satin.

While the faeries sparkle, and their bright visions abound.

Melinda marches towards the sun scorching,

A peasant swathed in morning dew.

Satin trickling behind her feet, she’s drawn —

Down the steps wearing broken-in boots;

Her path unending in the circle of lust.

She didn’t choose a tyrants will,

She wasn’t given hers; and her terrifying experiences mean, Melinda will forever distrust.

Still, she keeps marching on,

A soldier in sequinned glory.

A dagger hid in her starched gown;

Her long sable locks adorned with roses.

And she can’t trust herself, her mind is a concrete cage;

She’s twisted, rusted —her silk gown small protection from menacing beasts;

A prowling force she battles with and makes livid.

But, Melinda never quits, she chooses not to give-in.

The beast lets up, but she knows she can’t an eternity win;

While her skin is marbled beauty, she’s haunted by grim creatures;

Everyday is a battle and she’s quaking,

Such carnage, a war not her choice.

There’s slaughter in her soul unmanaged, leaving her visage ruined;

Ruined as rouge lipstick dripping as blood,

Melinda nearly chokes slashed by the monster beside and the monster inside her.

Both destroy her, both leave her exhausted;

Her glassy grey eyes drop, and only tears froth.

Her pain too vivid, unconcealed, a dagger in her skirt no protection.

She’s worked years to climb a valley;

Then, life tossed her careening down a gorge.

Now, her words only linger in sadness;

She yearns to curse, throw glass —

She can’t think, she’s lost and never safe.

She’s become mere prey —fighting tears, fears, demons always.

Never mind tyrants who snuff out bursts of salvation’s light;

She’s caught in a nightmare, her mind astray;

A moment she fears will lock hopes door,

Then forever, melt the key, and she’ll never escape the circle;

But she might, for some wars are only figurative,

And she’s made of more steel than a carnivores tyrant and menacing literature.

©️Mandibelle16. (2019) All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Photo Fiction: ‘All Hope Abandon Ye Who Enter Here’ #amwriting #flashfiction #Dante #TheInferno


Thanks to Alistair Forbes for hosting SPF.

——–

Credit: A Mixed Bag – Alistair Forbes

——–

“THROUGH me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye. Justice the founder of my fabric moved: To rear me was the task of Power divine, Supremest Wisdom, and primeval Love. Before me things create were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here.” –  The Divine Comedy, The Inferno (Canto III. Lines 1 -9). 

——-

“Abandon all hope? How can this be right?  I didn’t kill anyone and I was no pervert. I stood for my political office. I did what I had to do,” Ker said. 

“How do you know it was the right cause?” 

“Well, I just do.”

“What about those you hurt along the way? Your wife, Meredith, who now rests in Heaven’s fold? You’re here at the gates of Hell at the river Acheron for a reason,” the wise Charon told Ker. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt her, to use her to get where I needed to go. I loved her, but I didn’t mean to leave her. I prayed and I apologized. I admitted my sins to a priest in confession. Yet, here I am in Hell at the Traitors’ Gate, why here?”

Charon sighed and whisked the regretful Ker’s soul into the boat. “I wonder Ker, where Midas will send you? Will you be in the eighth circle as a corrupt politician or the ninth circle for being a traitor to your wife, to your family? Will you spend eternity ‘a Judas?'”

Ker shook his head, “This is nothing but a dream. Dante’s Inferno does not exist. I won’t abandon hope, I won’t. Meredith is not dead and I’m not really here.”

“But you did stop hoping and you’re a traitor so now you face the Traitors’ Gates. You are one of them and that’s why this gate is where you will enter into the ninth circle of Hell.”

“What?! I’m so sorry, I mean it. I repent. I’ll do better and change my ways. Tell me this is just a dream, let me have another chance.”

Charon chuckled and shook his head wearily.”It seems someone up high is fighting for your soul, Ker, I don’t why because your soul is pitch black. Yet, you will have another chance. Remember you won’t get another.”

—–

Ker awakes suddenly whispering pleading prayers in words of Latin and Ancient Greek. He doesn’t know why he understands these prayers to God, but he does. Ker attempts to pick up his smartphone nearby but feels terrible pain whenever he moves. 

Then, his beautiful Meredith walks in the hospital room door. “Meredith? I thought you were dead. That you would never speak to me again. I thought you were in Heaven and I was in Hell, I dreamt it.”

Meredith smiled at Ker with love despite how he had treated her recently: “Who do you think asked God to give you a second chance? I gave up eternity for a later time, hoping you will be there with when I return. Now you must fulfill your promises made in front of Charon.”

“So, can you change, Ker? Can you stop being a traitor and fight for ‘the good’ in this world? Can you fight for me, for us, for our family?” Meredith asked. 

Ker was just grateful to be alive. He swore to do better in life, in love, and he did. 

——–

©Mandibelle16. (2017) All Rights Reserved.