Dracula’s Lament Before His Return Home
Mountains, green and rocky,
cradle the view from my castle home.
The steep, winding roads
that end in narrow paths,
deter all but the faint of heart,
deter all who have not yet learned to fly.
No wonder the rarity of visits I receive!
No wonder the rarity of visits for my sisters as well!
How wondrous it would be to fly off to other lands,
to visit other people and learn of their cultures!
Perhaps they would care
to learn how to fly.
Perhaps they, too,
would like to live a new life.
One came to my home.
His stench I could not stand.
My sisters, not I, found him the toy of their dreams.
The pandemonium they created
as they fought over his hair, his face, his body
overcame my own sense of calm nervousness
that comes from a stranger in my presence
after all of these years.
Too long have we been alone.
I fled my own home
and sailed the seas,
acclimatizing myself
to their culture and their sights.
The churning up and down of the sea
was worse than any turbulence I knew.
How I’d rather take flight!
But directions I had not.
One by one,
night after night,
they’d ask me to teach them,
for they, too, had issues with the sea.
I obliged
and what did I learn?
They accused me,
yes, me,
of murderous crimes!
Everywhere I went,
people fell with illnesses I’ve seen long before,
illnesses that befell my friends,
my countrymen.
And everywhere I went,
they chased me
saying I was to blame.
Oh! Wretched me!
How could that ever be?
Best to lose all I have gained,
best to return home,
fly home,
to the cradle
of those mountains so green.
Continue reading “‘Dracula’s Lament Before His Return Home’ & ‘Bring Back the Jig’ by Danielle Wong”
