Condemnation Poem by Paige Nielsen

I am this stranger with lips
blackened and burned, like sugar-melted absinthia,
trapped in a charnel house,
a haunted mausoleum.
Morpheus is laughing.
Can you hear him?
Erebus is looming.
Can you see him?
Blackbirds, omens,
the end of all draws nigh.
Listen to these words:
your souls are dark as night.
your souls are black as hell.
Satan’s teeth glimmer—
he’s waiting for you,
he’s waiting to drag you down.