A Crime Story (A Death In Melbourne) Poem by Colin Coplin

Singing rain falls upon the boarding house
At the dockside waterfront up near the Melbourne Inn
It's been the home of many sacrificial tales
I've been haunted by knowing only the one

A cracked window leaks, like a face it cries
It's tear echoes a tale of gloom
Relived and rerun ever night at the midnight hour
And retold in this haunted dark old room

The ghost of Mary lies drowned, bathed in moonlight
Shattered glass and rainbow sand
On the bathroom mirror neon lipstick screams out in horror
WHY DID YOU KILL MARY?
Who the hell is Mary, I'm too terrified to ask,
Standing in a a pool offrozen shiver

Shadows of a vase press upon the forward wall
A full moon's beams pierce through curtains torn
The picture lapse the virgins blood of yesterday
Snow white hair hangs from a skull rammed through the kitchen door

But that's just a TV movie
The real story plays downstairs

Her only friend was David
Lies sprawled unconscious, but still breathing in the room next door
Oblivious to what's become of her
He wakes in sweat, his howls pierce the night
Yet no 911 is ever called

From the apartment next door with scenic views of the fire escape
Music is being played at seventy eight
From the kitchen comes the scent of something burnt
while from the bedroom come echo's of love in haste

In the basement behind an aging wall
Lies a treasure from the Punic Wars
Encased in gold, and carvings from a bygone age
A jackal and a decaying papyrus page

But that's just a TV movie
The real puzzle unfolds upstairs

The ghost of Mary lies drowned, bathed in moonlight
Shattered glass and rainbow sand
The bathroom mirror neon lipstick screams in horror
WHY DID YOU KILL MARY?
Who the hell is Mary, I'm too terrified to ask,
Standing in a pool of frozen shiver
WHO KILLED MARY?

Copyright Colin Coplin 1979 (2023)